seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 7:45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
It's only a few verses this morning. I won't be long. Then I can go about my day... right? But they are such interesting verses. I read the commentaries. I have picked my favorite. Now on I go. It's only a few verses this morning.
Jesus showed up at the Festival. If He had kept to Himself and just enjoyed the humans working and playing at the Festival, He would have been just fine. But alas, He got up on the Temple Courts and started to teach. He reminded the humans about how, when they needed water in the desert while they were on their way to the Promised Land, Moses took them to a rock, hit the rock, and water came out. There was enough water in that rock for all 2 million men, women, slaves, and livestock. Then Jesus told them... "I'm that water... there's enough of me to go around". That water was a life saver, just as Jesus is a life saver, and there was plenty of His Healing and Love to go around.
The Pharisees just did not appreciate being out preached. They considered Him to be a thorn in their butts from Galilee region, the son of a carpenter in Nazareth. He was a nothing... a nobody... and all those people just worshiped every word He said. So, they told the Temple Guard to arrest Him. This is the result.
The Temple Guard could not, would not, arrest Him. What had He done wrong? So, the Pharisees, in these verses, were arguing with the guards. They belittled the guards. They asked them if they were stupid and deceived.
This is from one of the commentaries.
Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed: The pride of the religious leaders was plain, as was their despising of the common people. They hoped to shame and intimidate the officers who didn’t arrest Jesus with the idea all the smart and spiritual people don’t follow Jesus — neither should you.
i. “The religious snobbishness of the rulers was revealed in their contemptuous dismissal of the guards’ testimony.” (Tenney)
ii. “The Pharisees had a phrase by which they described the ordinary, simple people who did not observe the thousands of regulations of the ceremonial law. They called them the People of the Land; to them they were beneath contempt.” (Barclay)
iii. “Even the liberal Rabbi Hillel, of the generation before Christ, summed up this attitude when he said, ‘No member of the common people is pious.’” (Bruce)
Nicodemus, though, stuck up for Jesus. Did you see their reasoning for calling Nicodemus ignorant. They said, "a prophet does not come out of Galilee". I wish Nicodemus had asked them, "What about Jonah?"
They did not think any babies survived the slaughter ordered by Herod at the time of Jesus birth. They thought Jesus was the son of a carpenter from Nazareth. No one gave the census, or the Angelic event, or Bethlehem any thought. They just thought Jesus was a really well spoken nobody from Nazareth. He could not possibly be the Messiah. The Messiah had to be rich and wise, not a common carpenter's son.
But Nicodemus had spoken with Jesus.
Nicodemus knew better.
