John 2:23-25--Jesus Knows What Is in Man

John 2:23-25
English Standard Version

Jesus Knows What Is in Man​
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

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A very short passage today that is going to help us pivot to the next thing that John s going to try to tell us about the divinity of Jesus.  Jesus is God, so He knows what is inside the heart of every man and why each person was asking questions and following Him, and what each person was seeking for or seeking after.  We're going to see some great examples in the book of John where the text will tell us that Jesus would know what was in a man's heart, or know what that man was thinking (sometimes even answering thoughts that the man or men had not said out loud) or knowing the motivation behind a question would ask "why are you trying to trap me?" and then answer their question with a question.

Jesus also knew exactly what each and every person needed to hear and how they needed to hear it.  We're going to see two encounters with Jesus that stand in stark contrast with one another in John 3 and John 4.  In John three a very religious man, a teacher of the Law, and probably a Pharisee from what we see in the rest of the New Testament, sought out an audience with Jesus under the cover of darkness.  This man was self-righteous and was presumed to be a man that everyone in society should emulate.  I'm sure all the parents in the area wanted their sons to group up to be just like Nicodemus.  Jesus had a very simple message for this man, "You must be born again."  Some argue this message was only for Nicodemus and was not meant for us, but I think it's clear from the rest of Scripture that regeneration (new birth) is an integral part of the message of salvation.  I'll save most of what I want to say about that passage for tomorrow.

After this, we're going to see the story about the woman at the well.  She was the exact opposite of Nicodemus.  She was a woman, a Samaritan, and from what we can gather she was a very broken person who was looking to men to fill that brokenness.  She came from a very different place as far as religion and theology, but she was expectant of the Messiah in a way that Nicodemus was not.  She knew the Law in some ways better than Nicodemus did.  One of the biggest differences though is that she did not seek out Jesus, but that Jesus sought out here--the passage said that he needed to go through Samaria, the original language is very strong and says something closer to "must needs."  Jesus controls the situation there by sending His disciples away, sitting down at the well and initiating the conversation by asking for a drink from a woman that no Samaritan would talk to let alone a Jew, and definitely not a Jewish man, and definitely not a Jewish Rabbi.  He did this in the middle of the day in broad daylight, unlike Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the cover of darkness.

Jesus is going to know exactly what is in the heart of both this man and this woman and is going to drive the conversation with statements and questions that get at the heart of the issue.  He is not going to let them distract Him from His primary purpose and mission when they try to take tangents and side-tracks, and He is going to make some amazing statements about Himself, but one of the most amazing testimonies that we're going to see in the book of John is going to come in John 4 and it ties back directly to the verses from today.  29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”  (John 4:29).  This is what the Samaritan woman who we know as The Woman at the Well evangelized and told her community about Jesus.  He knew everything about her, and yet, He intentionally had an "intervention" where He stepped into her life in that place at that time for the purpose of having that conversation with her.  It will take us much more time to see the fruit of the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus as the evidence of being "born again" comes much later for him and is something that is more inferred than has a direct statement of faith like The Woman at the Well.

So then, I hope you see that John is systematically and thematically moving us along a theological journey of realizing who Jesus, the Son of God is.  He is the eternal Word of God, God in the Flesh, God with Us, the fulfillment of the Tabernacle and Temple, the One who makes all things New, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Christ, the Messiah, and so much more.

But I saved the beginning of today's passage for last.  The people followed him because if the signs that He was performing (there's that word again), but Jesus knew what was in their hearts.  We are going to see over and over again that when Jesus performs a sign that large crowds will start to follow Him, but soon after Jesus will intentionally say something or do something that will "thin the herd" and make those who there for the "gravy train" turn away and even make Him turn to the true believers and ask, "Are you going to abandon Me too?"  Jesus was not out to speak His message for the sake of popularity or politics.  He knew what His mission was from the very beginning, and He was going to be careful to not let the crowds that were following go to His head or interfere with His mission.  He actually would spend lots of effort trying to avoid the crowds, but at the same time would see the crowds and have compassion on them because "they were like sheep without a shepherd."  We will see His communion with God interrupted on several occasions because He hears people cry out to Him and He knows what's in their hearts and that they need Him in the moment.  We'll see many more instances in the Gospel of John and the other gospels of Jesus knowing what was in the heart of men and how for some this caused them to believe and for others they would harden their hearts and believe anything else.