A central theme in the Gospel According to John is the idea of Jesus as an authoritative teacher. He spends a great deal of time spreading the word of God through his teachings. He teaches people wherever he goes about the power of the Lord. He does this through public speeches and by using his heeling and other extraordinary powers. Not all are impressed with what he has to say, though, and many were skeptical. For example, a Pharisee named Nicodemus questions Jesus’ teachings saying, “‘How can a person once grown old be born again?’” (John 3:4). Jesus attempts to explain about the concept of everlasting life, but Nicodemus continues to pose questions. Jesus also receives opposition from the Jews when he breaks the Sabbath by curing a sick man on the Sabbath and when he calls God his own father. For this reason, the Jews begin to persecute him.
The most evidence of Jesus as an authoritative teacher can be found in Chapter 7 of this Gospel. In this chapter, the Jews are having a feast and they had expected him to come. At this point, the Jews are still trying to kill him so Jesus goes to the feast in secret. The crowd at the feast was much more divided on their stance than the Jews. Some think that he is “‘a good man’” while others think that he “‘misleads the crowd’” (John 7:12). Halfway through the feast, Jesus begins to teach saying, “‘My teaching is not my own but from the one who sent me’” (John 7:16). He then goes on to say that they must stop trying to kill him for healing a man on the Sabbath because this is a good deed. He then repeats that God sent him, and some of the crowd begins to believe that he is the Messiah. Nevertheless, the chief priests and the Pharisees sent guards to arrest him because they are sure that Jesus is a fraud. The guards however would not arrest him because they were so amazed by Jesus.
cackley 
ezrak
I agree with Catherine’s choice of stories for Jesus as a authoritative teacher because not only does he attempt to teach people about the heavenly life he also has authority to do so and not be harmed. I find it interesting that the most faithful and the most accepting of Jesus’s message are not jewish men (the traditional power holders in israel) but the women and gentiles. Nicodemus is a perfect example of that as well.
kwalker9
Jesus definitely spoke with authority when he taught since in John he is equated to God. In order to place him at the same level as God he would have to portray Jesus to have spoken to the people as the one who created and elaborated on the teachings.
Anne McGowan
Nicodemus is a really interesting character to follow. He appears three times in John’s Gospel. The first time is the incident you analyze above from John 3. Then he emerges more clearly on Jesus’ side at the end of John 7, urging his fellow Jewish leaders to hear Jesus out rather than trying to arrest him. His final appearance is in John 19, where he helps prepare Jesus’ body for burial (and has presumably gotten off the fence he’s been sitting on for most of the Gospel and committed to being Jesus’ follower).
Pingback: Blog #5 Highlights « Foundations of Theology
therealfoley
Your second paragraph raises an interesting story how Jesus acts as an authoritative leader. After being shut down multiple times he still pursues his mission in secrecy and that is what being an authoritative leader is all about.
Anonymous
tomsЬ