Flashback Episode — Prejudging Jesus: John 7:37-52

On the final day of a festival Jesus went to in Jerusalem, the gospel of John tells us a statement that He makes, which both divides the crowds listening to Him, and it is a statement that prompts the religious leaders to call for Jesus’ arrest. While the statement Jesus says is powerful and challenging, how the people react, including the Pharisees, reveal their character and their hearts. When we think about it, just like the passage we are about to read does, when we bring Jesus into a conversation today, those present are likely to polarize into groups who believe in Him and those who don’t.

Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 7, and we will be reading from the New International Version. Starting in verse 37, John tells us that:

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Let’s pause reading here to look at a couple things that have just taken place.

First, Jesus makes a challenging statement about Himself from the scriptures. Jesus tells those present, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” This statement is powerful and challenging, and it is a promise that we can depend on.

However, it’s interesting in my mind that John then inserts a note saying that this was a promise that would be granted in the future, after Jesus was glorified. Nothing in Jesus’ words themselves speak to this being fulfilled in the future, or in the present. This makes me wonder if John’s insertion draws our attention onto a bigger truth that we can use to understand Jesus’ promises.

John immediately explains that Jesus’ promise would be fulfilled at a later date, and John says that this would be a date after Jesus was glorified. This makes me wonder if other present-tense-promises are things we can claim today, but things that might not be fully realized until a later date.

This is something that I will think about as we move forward through reading the gospels.

However, the big thing to note in this passage is that Jesus’ statement about Himself challenges those present. Some people believed Jesus to be the Messiah, others believed Jesus to be the Prophet who would come before the Messiah. Some people, as we will soon see, believed Jesus to be a fraud and impostor. There is no denying that Jesus polarized people.

It is interesting that the crowd debates among themselves regarding Jesus’ credentials. No one ever asked Jesus about His birth, to discover that He was indeed born in Bethlehem, and that His mother and “father” were descendants of David. Perhaps the culture they lived in was different from our culture today; perhaps those living in the first century didn’t move or travel as much as we do today.

Now, 2,000 plus years later, where someone lives is not likely to be the place where they were born. I was born in Canada, but have lived in plenty of places that were not my birth town.

The crowd was clearly torn, because they knew Jesus had God’s Spirit on Him because of the healing and miracles, but He also didn’t add up to their picture of the Messiah.

Continuing in verse 45, we learn that temple guards were paying attention, looking for an opening to arrest Jesus.

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.”

Let’s stop reading at this point in the passage. John describes Nicodemus subtly trying to put a pause on the rest of the Pharisees’ judgment. Even though Nicodemus is dismissed, we can learn some interesting things about these Pharisees through their response to both the guards and to Nicodemus.

Firstly, when the guards return empty handed, they are immediately accused of being deceived by Jesus. The Pharisees challenge the guards by describing the crowd in the temple as a “mob that knows nothing of the law”. This description is false on a number of levels, most notably because those present at the temple during this festival would only have been there if it was because of the law. The law included certain festivals where all Jews would travel to Jerusalem to worship, and during this festival, the temple and streets in Jerusalem would be filled with the most devout and religious Jews in their faith.

Also, by describing the crowd of people present as a “mob”, the religious leaders claim they are emotionally drawn to Jesus in an irrational way – and that they are prone to become violent at any moment. If that were the case, the guards would have had reason to arrest Jesus, but when they return empty handed, they tell the Pharisees that no one has spoken like Jesus has, they don’t even hint at Jesus rallying people together for a single purpose or for violence. Because of this exaggeration, the Pharisees show their emotionally irrational rejection of Jesus.

The last way the Pharisees’ description of the crowd falls flat is when we compare it directly to what the crowd says when they are debating about Jesus. The crowd displays knowledge of the law and the prophets when they talk among themselves about Jesus being a descendant of David and from the town of Bethlehem. This detail shows that the crowd, or should I say the “mob”, understands the Messianic prophecies enough to wonder about who Jesus is.

When we look at Nicodemus’ challenge to the Pharisees, we find an interesting angle. Nicodemus knows that Jesus’ actions have all been positive and a blessing to others, so he tries to use that angle to diffuse the tension in the room.

However, his attempt fails because the other Pharisees are blinded to the idea that anything from God could come from Galilee. They choose not to investigate Jesus’ back-story like Matthew and Luke do to discover that Jesus really was born in Bethlehem, and it was from concern over the rulers in the land that Jesus’ parents settled in region of Galilee. These religious leaders also show a limited belief in God because when we are certain that God cannot use something, that He cannot work through a certain action, or that He won’t step in to help us at a certain point, we may be surprised to discover that He does.

Another way to say this is that just because a prophet has never come from Galilee does not mean that a prophet will never come out of Galilee at some point in the future. Perhaps I am missing a scripture reference or something credible that they knew, however I doubt it. I am certain that they based their belief and bias against Galilee on the foundation that no prophets had ever come from that area, so therefore, the belief would be that no prophets would ever come from there either.

This thinking set the Pharisees up to reject Jesus without cause – and we can fall into this trap too. When we close our eyes and our minds to the possibility God could use some tragic event, a certain group of people who are different from us, or even a certain style of music for His purposes, we set ourselves up to be challenged when God decides to use the thing we believe He would not use.

Instead, we should delay judgment and look at the results of what we are tempted to judge and see if people are truly drawn towards God, towards repentance, and towards placing their trust, faith, and belief in Him. If the results are present, I wouldn’t be surprised if God was working through it.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Be sure to seek God first and be open to Him working in areas we might not typically expect. Look at the results and the methods, and reserve judgment because we cannot always predict the methods God will use to bring people to Him.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Don’t take my word, or anyone else’s word for anything. Instead, test what I and others say to determine if it truly is what the Bible teaches. A pastor or podcaster can give you things to think about from their own journey with God, but don’t let their relationship with Him replace your relationship.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!