Here's a challenge. Ask a few people what they think or know about Jesus. You can hear a surprising array of answers from Christians and unbelievers alike. Jesus is the Lord, Jesus is an example, Jesus is the perfect man, Jesus is a myth made up by early priests, Jesus is a concept, Jesus is this, Jesus is that. This should come as no surprise if we consider John 7.14-31 carefully. How did the different people view Jesus? Some knew there was a plot to kill him, some did not. Some thought he was a great prophet, some thought he was a deceiver. Some knew where he came from, and of those some thought one place, some thought another. How then do we know Jesus? We can know Jesus only as the Scripture describes him. We have no other information. We have no other documents from near his time which tell about him. The supposed "lost and suppressed Gospels" were written much later, contain loads of fanciful tales, and deserve to be lost. It's questionable whether they deserve to be suppressed, just lost.
So who is Jesus? In John 7 we see Jesus as the one who has done great and mighty works, the one who is redeeming the world to God the Father, the one who alone is pleasing to the Father, the one who does understand why he is here. Let us look to this Lord Jesus today in hope. He knows exactly where we struggle. He knows exactly what we need. And he has provided exactly what we need in his work on the cross.
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