Or, Don't Expect Reasonable Responses
Scripture: John 7:40-52
Date: September 2, 2012
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Irony means disagreement between what is expected or what seems obvious with what is actually the case. (For example, it’s ironic that I am part of helping start a school.) The apostle John loves irony and this part of the story may be the thickest yet in his gospel.
The entire chapter covers about a week’s time, before and during the Feast of Booths during the fall before Jesus was crucified. When Jesus had finally gone up to the Temple and began to teach about half-way through the festival, the reaction was rage and desire to arrest Him. In fact, the religious authorities sent officers to arrest Him (verse 32), and it isn’t until this section that we learn what happened.
John did include, at least a brief version of, Jesus’ invitation on the great day. Verses 37-39 include a fantastic offer of living water that not only satisfies the one who drinks, but through the Holy Spirit the one who drinks becomes a conduit of blessing to others (verse 38). John adds that the Holy Spirit didn’t come in this way until after Jesus was glorified (verse 39), but we when that happened because we have more of the story.
In verses 40-52 John tells us the the reaction of the crowd and the officers and the authorities (though we’ve seen some of their reactions already in verses 20 and 31). There were still a number of visiting pilgrims in town for the Feast along with the Jerusalemites and the rest of the characters we’ve seen in chapter seven. The responses are ironic, and none so ironic as those who hated Jesus the most.
Finally some of the people were listening to what Jesus said as well as seeing His signs.
There were a couple good possibilities about Jesus’ identity.
When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” (John 7:40–41a, ESV)
It was when they heard these words , so after listening to Jesus’ teaching and, in the immediate context, after Jesus’ invitation to drink living water. It seems likely that verses 37-38 are a summary of what Jesus said rather than the full manuscript, but the message was sufficient enough to provoke possibilities. At least they were finally dealing with Jesus’ words rather than just Jesus’ wonders (compared to 6:14 7:31).
One group suggested, This really is the Prophet . The Jews expected the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18:18 and a prophet like Moses who would arise. Some thought the prophet like Moses would be the forerunner to the Christ (see an example of the distinction between the two in 1:21).
Others argued that This is the Christ , the Messiah, the promised deliverer. But is Jesus the Prophet or the Christ? It’s a false dichotomy. We know that Jesus was both, not either/or. That’s the first irony of unbelief. Unbelievers will believe parts about Jesus but not all the parts together. He certainly is not a “create your own savior” smorgasbord. It’s ironic because which side was right? They both were right, but only right enough to be completely wrong.
It’s true in many areas of life, but some people know just enough Bible to be dangerous.
But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” (John 7:41–42, ESV)
There are a lot of ways to be wrong with right material. The first group was wrong because they only recognized a part about Jesus, the second group was wrong because they only knew another part about Jesus, and this group is wrong because they don’t know a part about Jesus, though they do know their Bible prophecy.
The second irony is that the proof they require, namely, that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem , proved that Jesus was the Christ. You might imagine some elder sitting off to the side, stroking his goatee, “You don’t say. Well, now that you mention it, Jesus just happens to be a descendent of David born in that very same town.” Micah 5:2 prophesied that the ruler of Israel would be born in Bethlehem. This group knew the little old prophet Micah and overlooked the little old town of Bethlehem’s birth registry. They did zero investigation before making their 100% conclusion.
A couple things. First, this suggests that the story about Joseph, Mary, and Guido (the name our family has given to the inn keeper), the stable and swaddling clothes was not well circulated during Jesus’ lifetime. It wasn’t a secret, but it also wasn’t headline news in the Jerusalem Times.
Second, another irony, it’s ironic that for a gospel intended to bring men to believing in Jesus, John doesn’t correct the false options presented here by the unbelieving. Jesus is the Prophet, He is the Christ, and He did come from the Davidic line, born in Bethlehem. John just lets the ignorati hang out in history like dirty laundry. Perhaps it’s because John was more concerned with Jesus’ eternal and heavenly origins (1:1-14). Being God was enough said. Or, perhaps, some answers are so wrong that they point to what is right. That’s ironic and true. Sometimes you don’t answer a fool according to his folly because your best defense is his stupidity. In our efforts to make sure that every “i” is dotted and “t” crossed, we may end up smearing the words.
John wants people to believe, he doesn’t feel compelled to correct every partial and ignorant expression of unbelief.
A lot of heat from this fire, but no light.
So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (John 7:43–44, ESV)
There was a schism (σχίσμα), a division , and they don’t appear to be agreeing to disagree. A good option when you’re not sure what to do with a person is just to arrest him. Some wanted to arrest him . Presumably, this is at least a fourth group, distinct from the two “we know a bit about him” groups, the “we know it can’t be him” group, and now the “get rid of him” group. This is the third verse, same as the first in verse 30 and the second in verse 32. That reminds us…what about that? Well, still at this point, no one laid hands on him .
Now we get back to the earlier plot line with the religi-olice.
Or, “How could you be so stupid?” - Scene One. The officers report to the officials and get their hat handed to them.
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.” (John 7:45–49, ESV)
According to verse 32, the officers had been sent to arrest Jesus three or four days ago. Verses 14-36 occur around the middle of the feast and verse 37 brings us to the last day of the feast. What have these guys been doing? They return empty handed and the inquiring authorities want to know, Why did you not bring him?
The safe(r) answer would have been something about how it wasn’t their fault. They could have (correctly) said, “The crowd was crazy and there’s no way we were getting mixed up in that.” The crowd was crazy, divided, and some of the crowd was angry. But that’s not how the officers responded.
No one ever spoke like this man . More than likely, these temple guards had been around the block/courts. They had heard their share of conference speakers, some of whom no doubt they arrested. Something was different about Jesus.
This is what they had been doing: they had been listening to Jesus rather than arresting Him. It’s a deer-in-the-headlight answer, as if they were still dumbstruck from Jesus’ presence. It’s also an ironic answer because, why did no one ever speak like this man? Because Jesus wasn’t just a man. Jesus was the Word of God, sent from the Father, the living water Himself.
The Pharisees couldn’t take it. They said, Have you also been deceived? They ask the wrong question. They should have asked, “How did He speak?” But they’re interested in getting their way, not in getting answers. Of course, the irony is, who was deceived? The chief priests and Pharisees were.
The authorities continue by appealing to authorities. Have any of the authorities or Pharisees believed in him? “After all, who are you going to believe?” It’s ironic because the officers just finished saying that no one, including these authorities and Pharisees, ever spoke like Jesus. It’s also ironic because as soon as they get done ranting, Nicodemus, an authority and Pharisee, speaks up in Jesus’ favor. Actually, one of them was at least close to believing.
Then they said, This crowd who does not know the law is accursed . The authorities are poisoning the well, discrediting the crowd to target the officers. Again, it’s ironic because they don’t know the law, which Jesus already pointed out to them earlier in the chapter (verses 22-24). It’s also ironic because they are accursed. It doesn’t mean that the unbelieving crowd wasn’t and they were. Two groups can be accursed at the same time, but it was worse for these self-proclaimed law experts.
The officials are ridiculing the officers because they’re desperate. They don’t have any good points so they just start shooting and hoping that something will hit. For what it’s worth, that’s not an effective way to persuade strong people to keep following you. It is, however, an effective way to manipulate weak people into not arguing with you because they fear your disapproval.
Or, “How can you be so stupid?” - Scene Two. It was easy to distance themselves from the crowd, then they had to do it with the officers, now they’ve got to do it with one of their own.
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.” (John 7:50–52, ESV)
Nicodemus was one of them , he was a Pharisee, an expert in the law. We know that he was the teacher of Israel and we know it because John told us in chapter 3 when Nicodemus had gone to him before . The fact that Nicodemus stands up for procedure doesn’t necessarily mean that he believed, but it was bold enough to imply that he had been affected by Jesus.
Nicodemus asked, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? There isn’t one explicit Old Testament law that makes this statement, although numerous passages make the point about gathering the necessary evidence. It’s ironic because they just criticized the crowd for not knowing the law. It turns out, they don’t either. They were giving “an answer before (hearing)” (Proverbs 18:13), so they were the fools. They were trying to turn it around.
They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.’ They knew well and good that Nicodemus wasn’t a Galilean, they were taunting him with anything that they could throw at him. What other explanation could there be for such stupidity? In their desperation, they proved who wasn’t paying attention. At least the prophet Jonah came from Galilee (2 Kings 14:25), if not also Nahum (Nahum 1:1). They smugly told Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, to go search some more when, ironically, they were the ones who were lost.
Desperate times call for dirty measures. These unbelieving religious authorities tried exaggeration, appeal to authority, poisoning the well, guilt by association, condescension, mockery and ridicule, personal attacks, and fact-distortion in attempt to protect their unbelieving.
Unbelieving is developed in a dark room. Unbelieving thrives without light, the light is the enemy. We tend to think that we can give an unbeliever good reasons for him to accept the light. We’re surprised when our best arguments are ignored, even after they mocked us for not having good arguments. The unbelieving don’t want reasons, they want room for their unbelief. Don’t expect unbelievers to be reasonable about their rejection. If they seem to be calm, then cool. But don’t expect a reasonable response from unbelievers to your reasonableness.
Consider some of the ironies:
But we don’t need to get unreasonable about it. Because God made the world, it’s ironic for our benefit that:
John doesn’t try to tie up every loose end or answer every objection. He turns on the light and shows how people respond. He also doesn’t give us the final word if any of these people truly believed because they aren’t the point. You are the point. Do you believe? Or are you still making weak-sauce arguments that squirt all over your shirt?
The truth is, no one ever spoke like this man. That’s because Jesus is the God-Man, the eternal Word in flesh, the living water.
We who believe should be wise enough to bring light into the heat. Mockery and name-calling and logical fallacies are all they’ve got, and those are foam swords. We don’t need to answer every objection, we need to actually believe it ourselves.