Making your mind up

Who is Jesus? part 79 – John 7:40-52

There’s a bit of a riddle in the passage I’m looking at here, but first, one for you to solve:

I speak of visions both heavy and deep,
of a Servant who suffers, yet God’s own to keep.
From me came the words that the nations still ponder:
“A lamb to the slaughter”—a phrase full of wonder.

What book am I?

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

John 7:40-52 ESVUK

The men who were sent to arrest Jesus. They could not arrest him; it should have been an easy task, but instead, they were arrested by the words of God spoken by the Son of God. “No one ever spoke like this man!” was their excuse – they are saying, “This Jesus is more than a man, nobody speaks like he does.

This is a very complex passage. Different people have been asking different questions for the whole of Jesus’ visit to the Feast of Booths, and their question is “Who is Jesus?” Is he a good man or a deceiver? (7:12). Is he the Christ? (7:31). Is he the prophet that was to come? (7:40). It’s like three games being played out of the same chessboard, all trying to capture the king who is Jesus.

But Jesus refutes their expectations. According to those sent by the priests and Pharisees, Jesus is more than a man. A good man or a deceiver would be a man, and the prophet would be a man. But surely those who thought he was the Christ or Messiah were right? That all depends on what they expected Christ to do. If they were looking for a kick-ass military leader who would kick the Romans out, then that leader would be just a man, too. Very few got what Jesus was doing, or who he was.

Into this chess game comes an unexpected move. They thought checkmate was inevitable, but the deciding blow, for now, comes from one of their own. Nicodemus is the pharisee that came to Jesus by night in chapter 3, and now, as one of those who would have been expected to be against Jesus, he speaks up on his behalf. I would not class Nicodemus as a believer in Jesus. not yet, but he will be one by chapter 19, which is just six months away. The endgame will have to wait, the game is progressing according to Jesus’ schedule.

Some people come to Jesus gradually, and that’s really OK if you take time to make your mind up whether Jesus is worth following. My experience is that he is well worth it.

The reaction Nicodemus gets from those Jewish tells volumes. These people prided themselves on their knowledge of the law and looked down their noses at those whose knowledge was less than theirs, and also at people from Galilee in the North. “Are you from Galilee too?” is an intended insult, as they know he is not.

“No prophet arises from Galilee,” they said, which compares to Nathanael’s question to Philip in 1:46, “Does anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip’s reply was “Come and see.” Nicodemus is reminding these people that they should not be dismissing Jesus without evidence, without giving him a chance to speak. The law, of which they are so proud of their knowledge, says that you cannot condemn anyone without two or three witnesses. In any case, the prophets Jonah and Nahum were from Galilee. Those who were countering Nicodemus were not only prejudiced, they were plain wrong. Those who pride themselves on knowing the law are actually going against the law.

But we are looking forward here, too. In the phrase, “No prophet arises from Galilee,” the word arises, ἐγείρεται (egeiretai) in Greek, is only used elsewhere in John’s Gospel when talking about Jesus’ second coming. But with John, he often teases us with glimpses of things, but does not expand on them until later. Such as the raising of Lazarus, and “This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.” (John 21:14).

Who is Jesus? is my angle in looking at John’s Gospel. This passage looks at the need for evidence. Do not reject Jesus; he’s worth looking at deeper.

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Riddle answer: Isaiah.