John 7:14-36 (NRSV) Agenda Anxiety
About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing unjust in him…”
… The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.” The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me, but you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Devotion
Agenda anxiety is the fear that the things you want to see done are not going to get done. Wherever Jesus appears, acts and speaks, people get agenda anxiety. He is not what they thought He would be. When Jesus went to the Temple to teach, the Jews were amazed at the depth of his knowledge and understanding; they felt threatened and anxious because he brought a first-hand knowledge of God.
When Jesus healed a sick man on the Sabbath, it offended the Jews because they felt He had broken a rule. The power of the miracle escaped them entirely. I am grateful to belong to a church consumed with helping and healing people, caring for the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. When Jesus speaks, it is about compassion. It is about wholeness and healing.
Jesus also gives a bad case of agenda anxiety to those who are more concerned with correctness than they are with God’s dynamic presence. He is standing in front of them, in the Temple, speaking from boats, from hillsides, and yet, they are more concerned with fitting the Messiah into their mold.
But Jesus replies, and I imagine with a touch of irritation in His voice, “you may know my geography, but you do not know my heart.” They were so wrapped up in the need to protect their precious doctrinal ideas, they could not see what God was doing around them.
And finally, strange as it may seem, some got agenda anxiety around Jesus because they were afraid He was going to reach out and include new people. They got worried about Jesus’ agenda, because maybe He was going to touch some lives that were not their kind of people. His agenda was too big for them to stomach.
Prayer
Jesus, you have always given people agenda anxiety. I pray that You will continue to do so. Continue to challenge our comfort zones and teach us more than we want to know.
Linda Bender