So we continue with the Challenge of
Jesus Christ, to the leadership of the Jews.
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd
murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and
the chief priests sent officers to take Him.
In the previous verses and studies we
have seen Jesus explain and express His divinity to
the Jewish people. This was not received well by the
Jewish leaders, who, instead of looking for the Messiah and
embracing His arrival, were instead looking to save their
positions of power.
33 Then Jesus said to them,“I
shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to
Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me and not find Me, and
where I am you cannot come.”
He is of course
talking about His upcoming death and Resurrection which will
occupy the majority of the remainder of the book. He will
eventually go to Him, but not yet. All of this was firmly in
Jesus’ hand. Confirming that His life was not taken from
Him, it was given to us. 36 What is this thing that He said,
‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot
come’?”
35 Then the Jews said among
themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not
find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the
Greeks and teach the Greeks?
Again Jesus was
talking about spiritual things and the Jews were
(understandably) thinking in the physical world. The
Dispersion (also known as the Diaspora) were the Jews who
were not living in Israel. With Roman occupation life in
Israel was a little rough so many moved into the area of
Asia Minor and surrounds
37 On the last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If
anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart
will flow rivers of living water.”
Again Jesus goes against all convention
here…..because He is God, and not merely man. And speaks to
those gathered in the temple. He is expressing and
identifying Himself as the Messiah, as the verse referenced
here exclaims
39 But this He spoke concerning
the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for
the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified.
And now we get a
glimpse into the future, into the relationship God wants to
have with us. For the Jews of Abraham and Moses’
time God was above them as he spoke to them. In Jesus time,
God was no longer above the people, but much closer, God
walked among the people and touched the people. And finally
upon His death and Resurrection , Jesus sent to us, the
comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would not dwell, above or
among us….but within us. With each person of the
Trinity….each expression of God, being closer and more
intimate.
40 Therefore many[i] from the
crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the
Prophet.” 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.
And some listened with their hearts, and
some listened with their heads. And the ones relying
on their knowledge, did not know the whole truth. They did
not know that Jesus had in fact been born in Bethlehem.
Again we see Jesus dividing, those who have an ear to hear,
and those who won’t hear.
44 Now some
of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
45 Then the officers came to the chief
priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not
brought Him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man ever
spoke like this Man!”
Here we have the
second witness against the Pharisees, Surely they heard this
same man speak…..but they closed their hearts to Him, Jesus
is the first witness. Now they hear the words of the guards,
who guilelessly appreciate the special nature of this man,
an ability apparently foreign to the Pharisees
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.”
And now, to further
incriminate themselves, they call accursed the entire
assembly of people.
50 Nicodemus (he who came to
Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does
our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is
doing?” 52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from
Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of
Galilee.”
And finally the third witness against the
pharisees, comes from among their own number. Nicodemus, who
was by all accounts a seeker of the truth and who did have
ears to hear.
It is easy for us to judge the Pharisee’s
and find them guilty on the power of these three witnesses,
for they truly were guilty. But how many of us are
also guilty of turning a deaf ear to Jesus so that we
may further our own agenda and interests…I certainly am one.
So while I do not condone at all what the Pharisees have
done, I number myself at least partially with them, and
trust and believe and HOPE that the mercy and grace of
Jesus Christ will save me from my own hypocrisies.
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