Believe Moses

Scripture: John 5:45-47  (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

45 “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” (John 5:45–47 NLT)

Hang on, friends! We’re almost through this somewhat frustrating confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders who were harassing him. The boast of the Jewish leaders, Pharisees, and Teachers of religious law was that they were righteous because of their knowledge of “Scripture” (The writings of Moses, mostly). They also believed that their Jewish nationalism gave them special favor with God and a special place in God’s purpose no one else could have. They fell into the same trap as Adam and Eve of choosing knowledge over relationship.

So even though Jesus didn’t challenge their knowledge of the Scripture, he points out to them here and in many other places in the gospels, that their knowledge was meaningless. Their knowledge of Scripture was meaningless because they didn’t actually know what the Scriptures meant. And their knowledge was meaningless because it lead to assumptions that kept them from recognizing the fulfillment of those scriptures when it (he) stood right in front of them!

Their claim to know God’s plan and their claim that only they held the key of knowledge was the basis for them to grudgingly let the people they approved into the religious system they had developed. This was not a credit to them, it was a judgment against them. Elsewhere, Jesus calls them “blind leaders of the blind” and charges them that they have used the “key of knowledge” not to open the way to God, but to lock the door so that those they influenced would be denied entrance into God’s Kingdom.

Moses accuses them! They claimed to know Moses’ laws and commandments, but they had no idea what they meant, how to know God, nor how to recognize the One who fulfilled all Moses and the Psalmists and the Prophets had written about the King and the Kingdom. I’m learning an important principle from Jesus these past few days: God always fulfills his promises but often doesn’t fulfill our expectations!

Prayer:

Father, Once again I pray for grace to avoid the trap of thinking knowledge of Scripture is a legitimate substitute for relationship with you. By grace through faith! Amen.