Jesus
answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
John 7:21-24
John 7 [20.] The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
John 7 [21.] Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
John 7 [25.] Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
Meaning:
Jesus had asked his hearers at the Feast of Booths, “Why do you seek to kill me?”, and the crowd had answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?” (John 7:19-20). Now he goes to the root of the hostility: a healing he had performed on the Sabbath in Jerusalem. Using their own practice, he shows that their anger had no basis in the Law, and he calls them to judge rightly.
- “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it”
The “one work” was the healing at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus told a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk” (John 5:8). Because it happened on the Sabbath, “the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him” (John 5:16). Months later the controversy was still alive. The word “marvel” here carries shock and offence, not admiration.
- “Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers)”
The Law commanded that a boy be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. The custom was older than Moses. It went back to “the fathers”, the patriarchs, because God first gave the sign of circumcision to Abraham and his descendants. Jesus himself was circumcised in this way: “When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus” (Luke 2:21).
- “On the Sabbath you circumcise a boy”
When the eighth day fell on a Sabbath, Jewish teachers agreed that the circumcision should still be done. The command to circumcise on the eighth day was allowed to take priority over the command to rest. In their own practice, therefore, the Sabbath did not forbid every kind of work.
- “Are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?”
Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater. If it was right to perform a rite affecting one part of a boy’s body on the Sabbath, how much more was it right to restore a whole man to health? The Sabbath was given for the good of God’s people. In Galilee he asked, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” (Mark 3:4), and he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Matthew records the same reasoning: “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep!” (Matthew 12:12).
- “Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment”
His critics judged by the surface: a man carried a mat and Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so in their eyes he was a lawbreaker. They did not look at what had really happened, or at who had done it. God told Samuel, “For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Of the coming Messiah Isaiah said, “He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears” (Isaiah 11:3).
Jesus is not forbidding all judgment here. He commands “righteous judgment”, the fair and careful judging the Law required: “you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness” (Leviticus 19:15). What he forbids is quick, surface judgment that serves our prejudices.
The Significance of John 7:21-24
- Mercy and the purpose of God’s law
God’s commands were given for life and blessing. When rules are used to block mercy, their purpose has been lost. Jesus shows that doing good is never against God’s law.
- Looking beneath the surface
Christians are also tempted to judge by appearance: clothing, background, reputation or one incident. Jesus calls us to look carefully and fairly, as God looks at the heart.
- Judging ourselves first
Jesus also taught, “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Righteous judgment begins with humility and honesty about our own faults.
Cross-References:
Luke 2:21: "When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus," Circumcision on the eighth day.
Mark 3:4: "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" Jesus’ question about healing on the Sabbath.
1 Samuel 16:7: "For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart." God judges by the heart.
Isaiah 11:3: "He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;" The Messiah’s righteous judgment.
Conclusion: Jesus defended his healing on the Sabbath by pointing to his opponents’ own practice of circumcising boys on the Sabbath. If that was right, then making a whole man well was even more in keeping with God’s purpose. He called them to stop judging by appearances and to judge with righteous judgment. The passage teaches that God’s law serves mercy, and that we must judge fairly, humbly and with God’s view of the heart.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible