NOT EVERYONE WAS ON THE SAME PAGE
John 7: 5, 12, 27, 41-43, 46-49 NKJ
5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.”
27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him.
46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”
47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
This is a bit of a divergence from my normal devotional structure. This seventh chapter of John highlights the confusion that surrounded Jesus. Many people have adopted a perspective of Jesus that is not accurate. The famous artists of years ago painted Jesus with a halo or a divine light. And yet, this chapter shows that Jesus was a highly controversial figure in His day.
If Jesus had a halo or a divine glow when He was on the earth, it might have ended the confusion. The fact that there were so many opinions about Him shows that He was exactly who He claimed to be. He was the Son of God and the son of man.
Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in Him. This is congruent with the truth that Jesus did no miracles until after He was empowered by the Holy Spirit at the river Jordan. If Jesus had been performing miracles as a child, then His brothers and His hometown would have been on board. His brothers did come around after the resurrection and believed in Jesus as the Christ.
People complained about Jesus. Imagine that. Here, Jesus was the divine Son of God doing miracles among the people, and people were griping about Him. Some people said He was a good man. Some people accused Jesus of deceiving the people. So, some equated Jesus with being a con artist.
Some of the Jews of that day believed that no one would know where the Christ was from. I am not certain where they came up with that idea. Evidently, these people were having a problem with the humanity of Jesus. In their minds, how could He be the Christ if we know that He was a carpenter from Galilee? Even though Jesus was doing amazing miracles that no one had ever done, the people missed Jesus over an erroneous thought.
Then there were the people who rejected Jesus as the Christ because they knew He was from Nazareth in Galilee. They must have never asked Jesus where He was born. Once again, an erroneous thought kept people from receiving Him as the Christ even though He had all the accompanying signs. One wrong thought blocked a group from opening their arms to the wonderful ministry of Jesus.
The final group confused about Jesus was the one who went along with the religious elite of that day. Officers had been sent to arrest Jesus, but they were so taken with His words that they walked away. The Pharisees were angry at these officers and asked the question: Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? So the religious rulers and Pharisees who knew that they were much more educated than the masses did not believe in Jesus. They thought they were intellectually superior and knew better.
APPLICATION
There is still a division among the people because of Jesus. Some people believe He was a good moral man and teacher, but not the Son of God. Some doubt His very existence. Some people cannot get past the idea of the virgin birth. Others balk at the resurrection. The intellectual elite believe it is foolish to believe in this mythical figure of Jesus.
But just as it was when He was on the earth, there are those of us who believe. We believe He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life as the Son of God. We believe He died on a Roman cross for our sins and was raised from the dead. We believe He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will rule over a kingdom that has no end. We believe He is a personal Savior and Shepherd. We believe He loves us and He is worth living for. For those of us who believe we are on the same page as Jesus, and we are happy to be there.
PRAYER
Lord, I believe in You. I believe You are good, and I believe I will rule and reign with You in eternity.