40 When some in the crowd heard these words, they said, “This man is truly the prophet.”41 Others said, “He’s the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ can’t come from Galilee, can he? 42 Didn’t the scripture say that the Christ comes from David’s family and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” 43 So the crowd was divided over Jesus. 44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one grabbed him. 45 The guards returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring him?” 46 The guards answered, “No one has ever spoken the way he does.” 47 The Pharisees replied, “Have you too been deceived? 48 Have any of the leaders believed in him? Has any Pharisee? 49 No, only this crowd, which doesn’t know the Law. And they are under God’s curse!” 50 Nicodemus, who was one of them and had come to Jesus earlier, said, 51 “Our Law doesn’t judge someone without first hearing him and learning what he is doing, does it?” 52 They answered him, “You are not from Galilee too, are you? Look it up and you will see that the prophet doesn’t come from Galilee.” (John 7:40-52, CEB)
No one speaks the way He does…
Have you been deceived?
And then Nicodemus shows up again, the one who had come to Jesus under the cloak of night to not be seen, now openly speaks in defense of Jesus in the high council.
The question from this text is where is Jesus from? We the readers know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but only because we have all of the stories. The birth of Jesus is not laid out in where and when in John. So the powers that be think Jesus is from Galilee because that is all they know, and seem to be unwilling to allow Jesus to answer questions before passing judgment.
How many of us are like that? We make up our minds based on the things we think we know and do not care to discover the real meaning behind something? How often do we deceive ourselves?
Be like Nicodemus and look for the truth…
aSacredRebel 