Day 961: The divide continues - John 7 vs 43 – 53

43-49 There was a division among the people over Jesus. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50-53 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. John 7:43-53 English Standard Version

When Jesus, as a baby, was taken to Jerusalem for the ritual of purification, a righteous old man named Simeon was in the temple when Joseph and Mary arrived. He was led by God's Spirit to say to them: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.” (Luke 2:22) Years later, when Jesus was grown up, He made a surprising statement to His disciples when He said: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34)

It wasn't that Jesus liked to antagonise people for the fun of it, He simply knew that the mission He was on, and the message He was bringing, was going to lead to division. We see this in today's reading. The feelings of those who were against Christ were strong indeed. But what does the answer the officers gave to the Pharisees tell us about Jesus?

I would say that, if tough people like police or soldiers were amazed at Jesus's words, then His message must have been one that cut to the hearts of many who heard Him. The writer of this gospel tells us that he has not told us of everything that Jesus did, so I suspect there were things Jesus said that struck even the most hardened of His hearers.

We know that His deeds and words had struck a man named Nicodemus. He was a religious Jewish ruler who came secretly to Jesus one night and said to Him: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2) What had started as a search for truth, now became a defence of truth as he reminded the hostile Pharisees of what their own law taught about a fair trial. The Pharisees showed him the same contempt they had shown the officers who'd not arrested Jesus. A current political trend these days is to accuse Christians of 'hate crimes' when they share Jesus' message. But we see that then, as now, the real hostility in the world comes from those who are opposed to Christ.

The truth of the matter is that the divide which Jesus' said would happen, has continued through the centuries wherever His message has been preached. The apostle Paul put it well when he wrote concerning those who preached the gospel, and said: “Through us, God spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

The crucial question is: ‘on which side of the divide have you taken a stand?’ Is Jesus Christ, and the message He brought, something that causes you to rejoice, or something you feel is unfit for the 21st century? Do you think Christians are the cause of societies troubles, or those who are hostile to Christ? Keep in mind that Jesus carried no weapon, raised no army, stirred up no civil unrest, strikes or protests. He simply preached the truth about God, and about mankind. Are you someone who agrees with those officers who saw no crime in Jesus and said: “No one ever spoke like this man!”?