by Doug Johnson
John 7:40-52
40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? 42Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ 43So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ 46The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ 47Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ 50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ 52They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’
The guards knew they would be in trouble for not arresting Jesus, given that there was hostility in the crowd. The guards were impressed by Jesus’s teaching and speaking. The Pharisees implied that no leader believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council did believe in Jesus. The Pharisees also said that a prophet does not come out of Galilee. Some believed and others were hostile to Jesus because he was from Nazareth, not Bethlehem. If they had looked more carefully (that Jesus was born in Bethlehem) they would not have jumped to the wrong conclusions. When you look for God’s truth in the Bible, look carefully and thoughtfully with an open heart and mind. Don’t make judgements or hasty conclusions on people and ideas until you do more research on them. That was true in Jesus’s time and it still holds true today.