John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself
There is a lot that I do not know, and sometimes I wonder if I don’t know things because my head won’t let me or because my heart won’t let me. I remember when I was in kindergarten, trying to learn the difference between a nickel and a dime. A dime is worth more than a nickel, even though a nickel is bigger than a dime. That just did not make sense to me. I thought if the nickel is bigger, it must be worth more. Sometimes I am just mentally dense, but many other times there are things that I could know but, being truly honest, I just don’t want to know. It is hard to know what you do not want to know.
When it comes to accepting the Lord Jesus, a lot of times people are simply ignorant of Him. I don’t mean they are dumb. They just don’t know. But sometimes ignorance is willing. People are willingly ignorant of things they could otherwise know because they are ignoring it. Oftentimes, what I don’t know is a matter of what I do not wish to know.
In the case of the Lord Jesus, His own brothers chose not to know Who He is. In John 7:4-5 they say, “Hey, you are doing all these amazing miracles. Why don’t you just leave? Go show yourself to the world because anyone that can do these things wants to show people.” The Bible indicates those very close to Jesus at this point were skeptical indeed. Later on, that changed. In Acts 1 we find that Jesus’ brothers had come to faith in God’s Son.
In verse 21 the people in general objected to Jesus, and He said, “I have done one work, and ye all marvel.” The one work was the last time He had been in Jerusalem, there had been a man whom He had healed on the Sabbath Day. The people, generally in this case, objected to that. They did not know what they did not want to know. They did not know that Jesus is God the Son.
Most poignantly, in verse 48 the religious leaders did not know. They were trying to have Jesus put away, and they could not seem to get the best of Him. In verse 48 they said, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” They were talking to those who had said, “No man ever spoke like this man did. There is something to Him.” The Pharisees rather indignantly, looking down their noses, said, “Look, none of the Pharisees believed on Him. Are you going to believe on Him?” This was a damning indictment. Many times, when we are in places of leadership, we do not believe the truth. We believe falsehoods and others take our actions as a green light to do the same. In that case, we are more accountable because of the way we use our influence.
So, among His brothers, the people, and the Pharisees, there were many who had seen what Christ had done. They were not objecting to His miracles; they were objecting to His Person. They denied Who it was who had done these miracles. So, it is hard to know what you don’t want to know.
Seeing is not believing. We often think that seeing is believing, but that is not always the case. These people knew that Jesus had done miracles and had spoken amazing words, but they rejected Who Jesus is. To the contrary, believing is seeing. By faith we understand, Hebrews tells us. Later in Mark, the Bible says in contrast to the leaders who rejected Christ, “And the common people heard him gladly.” It wasn’t the brilliant people; it was the common people who heard Him gladly. In other words, an open heart learns more than a brilliant mind. Your action plus God’s will equals the knowledge that is available.
John 7:17 perhaps best sums it up when Jesus said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” So, what I know is tied to what I do and what I am willing to do. In short, it is hard to know what you don’t want to know, but anyone with an open heart and open mind can know Jesus.