No one ever spoke like this Man!
John 7:40-52
Introduction:
Today, in Arizona, there will be a memorial service for Charlie Kirk. His
tragic assassination on a college campus, while engaging in debate, seeking,
it seems, to live out the implications of His faith in Christ, primarily through
his words, was shocking. The reaction to his murder has been almost as shocking
as the act itself. Whether or not you agree with his politics (I am registered as
independent) or his theology, how anyone could cheer or justify the murder of a
young husband and father is unimaginable. The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jer 17:9). Though,
perhaps, as we have been reading the Gospel of John, we shouldn’t be surprised.
We’ve known for a long time that there are deep divisions in our country
politically, and we should know that spiritually speaking the divisions
run deeper still. That is nothing new. In our context in John, we see the
reaction to Jesus expose the evil that lurks in the hearts of fallen humans.
Later in this Gospel, Jesus says that His disciples also will suffer, “In the world you will
have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world…” (John 16:33).
He made that statement knowing the Cross was just ahead. But He also knew that wouldn’t
be the end of the story. Sunday would come, and victory over death! We are more
than conquerors through Him who loves us!
We saw last week the call to believe in
Jesus, that is, to recognize who he is and to take Him at His word. In our
passage today, it is not a miracle that draws a reaction, but the words
of Jesus, the people responded when “they heard these words” (7:40). Jesus
was speaking of the sending of the Holy Spirit when he said in v.38, “He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow
rivers of living water.'" That teaching about the promise of the
Spirit was so intriguing it captivated the attention of the people, and demanded
a response… one way or the other. As we
have been going through this Gospel we’ve been guided by John’s answer to three
questions, 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? And 3) What does it mean to
believe in Him?
Though the leaders did not believe as
Jesus revealed himself by his words and actions, some of the people did turn to
Him in faith. Jesus spoke with authority and acted with compassion, always
motivated by love. He loved them to the end. How can we more effectively
reflect Jesus as we carry out his mission in the world?
The
Big Idea: *The words of Jesus will bring division, some are drawn
to the Truth, others are hardened in their unbelief. We’ll look at that through
a simple two-part outline, 1) A Divisive Question (40-44); and 2) A Dubious
Argument (45-52)…
I. A
Divisive Question (7:40-44): Who is the man Jesus? John
is telling us the story of Jesus, but he is doing so very intentionally. He is
writing in order to lead us into a correct, deepened understanding of who He
is. He tells us his purpose at the end of chapter 20, “…these are written so
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing, you may have life in His name” (Jn 20:31). Throughout the
Gospel there are always some who profess truth about Jesus, though often, at
least until we get to the end of the story, they don’t go far enough, often not
understanding the full meaning of the titles they attribute to Him. We see that
kind of discussion here…
40
When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This really is the
Prophet." 41 Others
said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to
come from Galilee? 42 Has not
the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes
from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" 43 So there was a division among
the people over him.
“When they heard these words…” After
hearing Jesus’ bold, authoritative teaching, some begin discussing who this
Jesus is. First, some think “This really is the Prophet” (v.40). This is
a reference to Dt 18:15-22 which spoke of a prophet like Moses…
15
" The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your
midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…
In a real sense, this passage points to
Moses as the paradigm prophet, and God is saying that after him he will send
others through which he would bring His revelation. All prophets were to be judged
by the criteria in that passage, most importantly, did their words come true? That
would confirm they were speaking for God. This is another evidence of the grace
of God. He didn’t simply give the Law so that there would be no doubt as to
right and wrong. He also sent prophets to remind people of the requirements of
the covenant, to assure them that God’s promises would not fail, that if the
nation was being chastened it was not because of God’s impotence but rather
because of their sin, and so it called them to repentance. God also promised through the prophets that
one day a Savior would come. The Jews came to read this promise of a
prophet like Moses as a reference to an eschatological figure, some rabbis
identified “the prophet” with the Messiah, others as a figure associated with
His coming.
So, we see a distinction, some thought
Him to be “the Prophet,” others thought he was “…the Christ
[Messiah]…” (41a). They said, He is Messiah! Well, this is a correct statement,
but the problem is what did they mean by this title? There were a lot of ideas
about the Messiah, that is, the “Anointed One,” but as far as I know,
their first century understanding didn’t attribute deity to him. Yes, the Son
of God title is used in some key passages, like 2 Sam 7:14 and Ps 2:7, but the
ontological implications of the promise are not fully understood until they are
realized in Christ Jesus. It is John who draws special attention to the title
“Messiah” as the fulfillment of the OT Jewish hope. Though the Greek word,
“Christ” appears almost 500 times in the NT, the word appears in its Semitic
form only twice in the NT, both in John (we’ve seen it in Jn 1:41 and 4:25). He
is the Hope of Israel, and the Savior of the world!
This is what John means by “Christ” and
“Son of God” (Cf. John 20:28-31). After the resurrection Thomas confesses “My
Lord and My God!” At that moment, in the light of the resurrection, he
finally understood and correctly believed in Jesus. Following that confession,
John, the writer, says, “Many other signs Jesus did… but these were written
that you might believe…” This is what John is explaining in his Gospel. He
is showing the Jesus is God incarnate, and so Son of God and Messiah. Because
Jesus came in the flesh, it’s easy for us too to have a truncated (or limited,
incomplete) idea of who he is.
But some said, “Is the Christ to come
from Galilee?” (41b-42). They argued, “How could he be the Messiah? He is
from Galilee, not Bethlehem!” It interesting that Jesus never responds to this
charge in John, and John, the Gospel writer, never explains that Jesus was in fact
born in Bethlehem. Why not? Why would John report this scriptural scruple and
then not give at least a reference to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem? Two possible reasons
come to mind:
1) First, remember that John is the Fourth
Gospel. He is able to assume that his readers have heard the general lines of
the history of Jesus from the Synoptic Gospels, which were probably circulating
for twenty or more years. He is writing a unique gospel, supplementing the
other three, from his eyewitness perspective. He can assume his readers know the
story of His birth.
2) Secondly, John is emphasizing not the
earthly place or circumstances of Jesus’ birth, but His pre-existence as the
eternal Son of God. Several times in John 6 and 7 we are reminded that He
was sent from the Father, He came down from heaven. Where did Jesus come from?
John wants us to know that He came from “above.”
The division over Jesus is noted in Jn 7:43-44,
“So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest
him, but no one laid hands on him.” The language John uses is explicit: “Thus the people were divided
because of Him…” The word “division” is the word from which we get
our English word, “schism.” The word
indicates a sharp, deep division, like a garment being violently torn in two
pieces. Jesus did not come to tell people what they wanted to hear, He
is truth, and He came to reveal the truth, and to show both our need and God’s
grace. The people then were divided over Jesus, and so is humanity today. What
will you do with Jesus? For those who believe, He is the foundation of our
lives, He IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Knowing Him gives meaning and
joy that goes beyond the circumstances of the moment. When we know Him and
follow Him, it changes everything. And He changes us. We are not perfect, we
still sin, but we are no longer slaves to sin and blind to the Truth. And,
because we have experienced God’s grace, it becomes a key aspect of our mission
in life to urge others on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.
Though the leaders did not believe Him
as Jesus revealed himself by his words and actions, some people did turn to Him
in faith. Jesus spoke with authority and acted with compassion, always
motivated by love. And He is still building His church. How can we more
effectively reflect Jesus as we carry out his mission in the world? The Big
Idea stands true, now as then, *The words of Jesus bring division, some are
drawn to the Truth, others are hardened in their unbelief.
II.
A Dubious Argument (7:45-52): The response of the leaders
to the officers who returned empty handed was essentially, “Who has believed in
Him?” They were saying, “WE know better than you do, if we haven’t believed
Him, you shouldn’t either!”
45
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them,
"Why did you not bring him?" 46
The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" 47 The Pharisees answered them,
"Have you also been deceived? 48
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not
know the law is accursed."
These men went to arrest Jesus, but they
were “arrested” by His words! He spoke like no other (45-46)! This is a great
part of the story. The temple police were sent to arrest Jesus back in 7:32, then
we saw in 7:44 that, “some wanted to take him, but no one laid a hand on him.” So here these guys come back empty-handed! He
did not do any sign that astounded them. There was no demonstration of power as
we’ll see later, when the guards come to arrest him in the garden. We read about
that in John 18:4-6,
4
Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to
them, "Whom do you seek?" 5
They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I
am he." Judas, who
betrayed him, was standing with them. 6
When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and
fell to the ground.
Only
John gives us this detail. When Jesus says, “I am He,” the phrase He
uses is one that appears multiple times in this Gospel, it is the Greek
translation of the phrase God used in His self-revelation to Moses at the
burning bush (Ex 3:14), “I AM.” As He spoke that phrase in the Garden, those
who came for Him fell back on the ground. Here, at the Feast of Booths in John
7, there was no such demonstration of divine power, yet His speech alone came with such power, such
authority, that they were awestruck: NO ONE ever spoke like this man!
They came to seize Jesus, and they were seized by the power of His words. This
wasn’t just another preacher or rabbi - this man spoke like no other. And they
went back to the leaders empty-handed.
The response of the leaders was evidence
against them, it exposed their hearts. They essentially argued, ”we would know if He was Messiah!”
[47-49]. Ironically, their response is evidence, their failure to
believe Jesus and their violent rejection of Him reveals that He is the
Promised One. His rejection was prophesied, it fulfilled passages like Isaiah
53:3a, “He was despised and rejected of men…” In their eyes, this
uneducated Galilean could not possibly be the Messiah promised in the
Scriptures! The officers sent to arrest Him were so awed by the authority with
which He spoke, they came back to the leaders and reported, “No man ever
spoke like this man!”
The Pharisees were the first
to speak, saying in 7:47, “Has he even deceived you as well?” They
express the shock of the leaders, they sent these officers, who were usually
reliable in carrying out orders, they gave them a simple job to do, and now it looked
like these men had been taken in! The question in 7:48, “Have any of the
leaders or the Pharisees believed in Him?” The question anticipates an
enthusiastic No! Of course not! The implication is, “Listen, we’re the experts,
we know the Scriptures and the traditions of the Fathers, don’t you think that
we would know if this man came from God?” The language in v.49 is so offensive to
emphasize the contrast: Only this ignorant multitude has been fooled—they don’t
know anything, they’re obviously cursed! How can you allow yourself to be
misled by them?
This reminds us, by the way, of the
importance of the protestant doctrine of the priesthood of believers. It is not
only the “experts” and “doctors of theology” that can understand the Scriptures
and discern truth. Any believer can read and understand what God says in His
Word. God has given us pastors and teachers, that is part of His design for
the church. But we all have his Spirit to lead us into truth. No matter who
stands in this pulpit, we need to be like the Berean believers in Acts 17:11, “These
were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so.”
Here in John 7, there is at least one
voice calling for reason…
50
Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to
them, 51 "Does our law
judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he
does?" 52 They replied,
"Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from
Galilee."
Nicodemus calls for reason and a fair
hearing, he does so by asking a question, “Does our law condemn someone
without first hearing him out?” This may give us a hint that their argument
had a wrong premise: “Has any of the Pharisees believed in Him?” Well,
maybe at least one (Remember 3:1ff., cf. 19:38-40)! He came to Jesus at night
in chapter 3, and then, after the Cross, joins Joseph of Arimathea in giving
Him a proper burial.
Their answer to him is intended as an
insult, “Are you from Galilee too?” Their answer is that this one factor
in itself is enough for us to close the matter and declare this man is not from
God. Their language here reveals the depth of their spiritual arrogance, as
well as the prejudice they felt against Galileans. Their question, “Are you
from Galilee too?” had nothing to do with Jesus, it was meant to put down
Nicodemus for siding with him, however meekly.
What
is God saying to me in this passage? The words of Jesus brought
division, and they still do… some are drawn to the Truth, others are hardened
in their unbelief.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? We’ll
end with three “r”s…
1) Remember what obedience cost Jesus: He left Heaven to enter this fallen
world, knowing He would face ridicule and rejection, and ultimately the cross.
Remember also what motivated Him: “God commended his love toward us in that
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…” (Rom 5:8; I Jn 4:9).
2) Recognize
that because our sin nature is defeated, but not dead, we need to keep our
commitment to Him before ourselves. Is Jesus the Lord of my life? Will I
follow him, even when it is difficult? Will I obey, when the cost seems too high?
Nate Saint’s words seem easy, but they cost him his life: “Obedience is not a
momentary option: it is a die cast decision made beforehand.” Will we take up
our cross and follow Jesus?
3) Repeat
the Good News to others, we are where we are because God has placed us there… our
family, our neighborhood, our work, our school… and that is where we are called
to start being His witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Embrace the mission! AMEN.
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