Saturday October 8, John 7.40-53

John 7.40-53


Division among the People 40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? 42Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ 43So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority 45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ 46The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ 47Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ 50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ 52They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’

Thoughts:  Here again we have Nicodemus.  He is not one "which does not know the law (vs 49)" but is actually one of the leaders, a Pharisee and it appears that he is beginning to see the light!  Of course he immediately feels the pressure from the others to take no stock in this Jesus of Nazareth.  What I find interesting is that there is no Bethlehem story in John's Gospel, so we are kept in the dark so to speak as to whether or not Jesus really is from the Galilee.  But I think perhaps John wants us like Nicodemus to begin to be able to think in new ways about God.  Jettisoning some of our preconceived notions so that we might find in Jesus the salvation of the whole world.

Questions:  The guards seem to defy the authority of the council.  As a Christian have you ever found yourself in opposition to the 'authorities' around you?  What did you do?