Wednesday in the Word...John 7:45-53...a mocking

Our Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 7 and verses 45 through 53, which reads,

v.45, 46 - The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them "Why did you not bring Him?"  The officers answered, "Never has a man spoken in the way this man speaks."

Jesus is at the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem.  He has come in unannounced and made His way to the temple to teach.  The crowd is confused that the one who the religious leaders wanted out of the picture was speaking so openly.  At the height of the celebration when the water is brought in from the Pool of Siloam by the priests, Jesus cries out that He is the living water, a better water.  Jesus cries out an invitation to come to Him and follow after Him.

The officers have been sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to apprehend Jesus but they come back empty-handed.  Why?  The soldiers are so taken with the words of Jesus.  They had never heard anyone speak like Jesus speaks.  It is the same today.

Many set out to prove Jesus wrong but when they come in contact with His words something wonderful happens.  The words of Jesus are like none other and they are used to transform lives.  Jesus hating atheists become like Saul also known as Paul on the Damascus Road and turn from loathing Jesus to loving Jesus.

v.47-49 - The Pharisees then answered them, "You have not also been led astray, have you?  No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?  But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed."

If we look at the response of the Pharisees we will see a pattern.  First they mock the soldiers.  They tell the soldiers that they have been duped.  They don't listen to what has been said by Jesus, they just shoot it down because it didn't come from them.

Second they mock the crowd.  They put the crowd in their place as those not capable of knowing the Law.  They put themselves as better than the crowd and pronounces a judgment on them without every hearing from them.  This action raises a red flag for one of them.  

One of them is so convicting by this mocking action that he speaks up.

v.50, 51 - Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, "Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?"

Here is our bright light in the midst of all this darkness amongst the chief priests and Pharisees.  One of them is Nicodemus who met Jesus in the night.  Jesus told him, "You must be born again."  Each person needs to be born anew in the spirit.  Nicodemus knows that the procedure is to actually listen to the one who is being accused.

How many times do we bring judgments before we ever listen to the other person?  How many times do we stand from afar and throw stones fueled by sound-bytes feed to us from some media source?  The next section of Scripture is debated heavily, John 7:53-8:11, but it plays out how Jesus handles a situation so differently than the religious leaders are doing at this moment.  How do the Pharisees respond to one of their own?

v.52, 53 - They answered him, "You are not also from Galilee, are you?  Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee."  Everyone went to his home.

The Pharisees mocked the soldiers.  The Pharisees mocked the crowd.  The Pharisees mocked one of their own.  I see a pattern here.  It seems that it doesn't matter who says it, they are not going to listen let alone believe.  A little study in the origin of Jesus' birth would have put Him not in Galilee but in Bethlehem, the city of David, where the Messiah is prophesied to come from.  A little digging to know the truth and not just some digging to throw some more mud is not happening.

Many mock Jesus but they don't take the time to look a little closer at Him.  Who is Jesus?  What did Jesus say?  Have you personally read all the words of Jesus that we have?  If you ask these questions, many of the mockers don't have an answer or they are called out for throwing mud at someone they don't know.  

"Do you truly value truth?  If you do then an investigation of this world figure named Jesus is necessary.  You are deficient in your knowledge if you don't look at the One who has a world religion named after Him and the split of the eras corresponds with His birth.  There is even an all time best seller that speaks of Him from cover to cover."

The Festival of Booths is over and the result is that they all go home.  Jesus is not captured and heads out of the city to continue to preach and invite others to follow after Him.  Opposition is not gone but it has taken a blow that will send them back to the drawing room to figure out what to do next to silence this man named Jesus.  What stopped them?  The words of Jesus.  Maybe that's what we should do with the opposition that we face in our day?

Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, may we see the actions of the chief priests and Pharisees in light of Your Son's actions.  May we not mock and throw mud but rather move closer to those who don't understand about the One we love so much.  Amen."

Pastor Adam