Joh. 7,11-19: "Now at the Feast the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, 'Where is he?' Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, 'He is a good man.' Others replied, 'No, he deceives the people.' But no-one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, 'How did this man get such learning without having been taught?' Jesus answered, 'My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law."    (Today’s NIV)

Where people encounter Jesus, he does not leave them untouched. This does not mean that they acknowledge or even listen to him. But he causes discussions. We also cause discussions when we talk about Jesus: The one means: “It is good that you have a faith.“ The other one says: „Don’t be so fundamentalist and radical.“ And most people are amazed when they notice that we are well versed in the bible.

Of course we cannot compare with Jesus. But still it is also true for us that Christians do no just pass on human teaching but that we have been sent. However, how shall anybody be able to distinguish that? Jesus says: Only when s/he allows for being called into question personally, when s/he wants to do God’s will. For then s/he will notice how hard it is to live according to God’s commandments. S/he experiences that s/he fails.

Evidently Jesus (and the one who tells about him) has told the truth. He did not just boast in order to gain glory from the people. His goal was that the Father would be glorified. For us the question remains: How do we glorify God more? When we pretend Christians are able to live according to God’s law (whose honor do we really seek?)? Or when we admit to be lawbreakers who trust in him that he is glorifying himself in us?