John 5:43-47 - Seeking the right kind of glory

5:43

Jesus came in His Father’s Name. He was sent by the Father, He is the Son of God, He comes in His Name. Any attempt to understand Jesus from any other perspective is completely flawed from the start. Jesus then draws a comparison to highlight the hypocrisy of the Pharisees approach. “Prove who you are” seems a very reasonable demand at first, but then someone else comes along with purely human ideas and he is much more readily accepted.

This was not just a general statement. Throughout the OT times the Jews were forever accepting false prophets.  In NT times various rebel leaders, such as Theudas and Judas the Galilean, were accepted and followed (Kruse).

5:44

The problem is the glory that we seek. Now note that the problem is not seeking glory in itself, rather it is the form of glory and the source of glory that is the problem. The Jews were utterly accepting glory from one another. Again, let us in the church be very much on our guard against this. Glory as well as splendour refers to moral excellence and importance. The Jews assessed whether or not something or someone was important by what others thought of them. They assessed their own worth on what others thought of them. Now we need to beware extremes, what others think of us is relevant, and someone who cares not at all what others think of them may well be mentally ill, but it must not become out ultimate measuring stick. What does God think of us? That is the most important assessment.

5:45-47

The Jewish leaders might have been thinking that it was all well and good for Jesus to be claiming to have been sent by the Father, and to have the Father’s testimony on His side, but any charlatan or imposter could claim that, so they were very wise to be doubtful about His claims. But Jesus had one further witness, Moses. Now the Jewish leaders prided themselves on being faithful to Moses and the Law. The Sadducees, who did not believe that much at all, accepted the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. The Pharisees accepted all the Old Testament. So they were all included when Jesus referred to Moses.

Jesus is saying that Moses pointed forward to Jesus. If the Jewish leaders had truly understood the Law then they would have recognised Jesus. So the root of the Jewish leaders’ failings was that they did not believe the Old Testament.

Again this reminds us that when we read the Old Testament we should ask how it points forward to Jesus.