Jesus gives God glory, parts 1 and 2

Lynne Baab • Tuesday February 10 2026

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 3: Jesus gives God glory

Key verse: “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 false in him.” John 7:18.

1. Stepping into the Word

Some people excel at details, facts, and figures. Other people are big picture thinkers who love to discuss overarching vision and purpose. Various personality inventories measure and describe this difference. Research indicates that committees and teams come up with better results if they include a mix of both, but the process of getting to a good product can be very challenging. Detail people and big-picture thinkers see the world differently and often have different priorities.

When Jesus argues with the scribes and Pharisees, we might think that the Jewish leaders focus on the minutia of the law — the details and specifics — while Jesus sees the big picture. After all, Jesus mentions and discusses the greatest and second greatest commandment, loving God and loving neighbor, in each of the first three Gospels (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10: 25-37). However, since Jesus interacts with so many people about the small and large facts of their lives, we cannot say that Jesus is only a big picture thinker. He seems to be able to keep in mind his larger goals about God’s glory while dealing with the specifics of human life.

In an argument with the Jewish leaders about the Sabbath, Jesus reframes the discussion about how to show God’s glory and live by God’s priorities. Jesus indicates that when we have a heart that wants to follow and obey God, we will be able to discern what is right and good. As a big picture thinker, I love to imagine that if I focus on Jesus’ big picture perspective, I'll be doing right. Instead, Jesus insists that desiring and intending to obey is the key ingredient for discerning God’s will and living a life that reveals God’s glory. And Jesus models caring about the details of people's lives, too.

Jesus, you reflect God’s glory with such power and beauty. Open our hearts so we can receive your words whole-heartedly and desire to follow you into the world. Help us long to love like you love and serve like you serve.

2. Discerning Truth

John 7 begins in Galilee, where Jesus has recently fed 5,000 people, walked on water, and identified himself as the Bread from Heaven. The festival of Tabernacles (or Booths) is about to begin. Jesus’ brothers go to Jerusalem, and Jesus belatedly follows them (John 7:1-10). People are arguing about Jesus before he arrives (v. 12). The festival lasts seven days, and on one of the middle days, Jesus goes to the temple to teach, a common practice for Jewish rabbis. The Jewish leaders, frequently called “the Jews” in John, are stunned by his teaching, particularly because Jesus has never studied under their authority. Jesus states that his teaching comes from the one who sent him, a phrase he has used numerous times already in his ministry (see John 5:24, 5:30, 5:36).

Jesus then describes how to discern the origin of someone’s teaching. He argues that willingness to obey God will result in the ability to discern whether or not a person’s words come from God. Already in John, Jesus has twice described his own call to obey God’s will. When he speaks to the woman of Samaria he says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (John 4:34, see also 6:38-39). He contrasts people who seek their own glory with those who seek the glory of the one who sent him, saying truth resides in the latter. Both truth and glory are significant themes in John, and they are linked in John 1:14. In John 17:5 and 24, Jesus connects his own glory and the glory of God.

In the contentious dialog in John 7, Jesus accuses the Jewish leaders of not keeping the law, mentioning the Sabbath healing of the man who had been lame for 38 years (John 5:1-17). After that incident, the Jewish leaders were so angry that they began to plot to kill Jesus, and of course murder is forbidden by the sixth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13). Jesus makes an additional, more subtle argument about the way the Jewish leaders are not keeping the law, drawing on the central Jewish practice of circumcision, commanded for the eighth day after birth, whether or not that day is a Sabbath (Genesis 17:12, Leviticus 12:3). If circumcision, which reflects God’s covenant with the Jewish people, can happen on a Sabbath day, how much more should healing be allowed, even encouraged? God’s covenant of love and blessing is visible in freedom from work on the Sabbath day, therefore God’s love through healing should also be welcomed.

What are some of the ways you keep God’s law in your life? What helps you discern how to do that?

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Next week: Jesus gives God glory, parts 3 and 4. Illustration by Dave Baab: Grandview Ridge, near Lake Hawea, New Zealand.

Lent starts next week, February 18. You still have time to check out my Lenten devotional, Draw Near, available in paperback and for Kindle. For each day of Lent, you’ll find a psalm, brief reflection questions, and a watercolor by Dave Baab.

This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission.

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Lynne Baab