John 7:45-52. Pressures to Disbelieve

John’s gospel intersperses selected actions and words of Jesus with the responses of those who came into contact with him. There are those who think that Christians are gullible and willing to accept anything. Jesus and his apostles say that the very opposite is true and that the faith of the atheist is far from evidence-based whereas, in fact, faith in Jesus is based on strong evidence. This is why John wrote his gospel. He longs for his readers to have eternal life which overflows into how they live now. He teaches that to receive this, people must be believers and followers of Jesus, God’s Messiah, God’s chosen Son and king. For people to believe in Jesus they should be given enough evidence.

The Need for Evidence

John summarised the purpose of his book,

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31

It is therefore naive to ask people to make a decision for Christ without presenting them with the evidence about him. John deliberately presents selected evidence but also shares the differing reactions people had to Jesus, to what he says and does.

One of the first major interviews with Jesus that John describes is with Nicodemus, a senior Pharisee, who was a member of the ruling Sanhedrin. The reason he approached Jesus was because of the clear evidence for him being someone very special.

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:2

In the passage we are now looking at, the response of the temple guards who had been sent to arrest Jesus is described. These guards were Levites who were under the direct command of the High Priest. This armed group entered the temple court where Jesus was teaching but were apparently gripped by what he said and were attracted to Jesus as a person. They could see how the mass of people were responding to what he was saying and left without making an arrest.

Stephen Lungu was just 12 years old when his mother left him all alone in Zimbabwe. He joined a street gang. They were angry towards those who seemed to have the privileges in society. Eventually Stephen became leader of the gang and they decided to make a grand statement by murdering a group of these privileged people. It so happened that a South African evangelist was leading a Christian mission in a large marquee and the gang decided this would be a good easy target. On the agreed day the gang members stationed themselves around the marquee whilst Stephen went in to reconnoitre the scene. The plan was that he would then come out of the tent and give the sign to attack. However the preacher started to speak and gripped not just his audience but Stephen as well. Stephen stayed on to listen to the whole talk. At the end the evangelist asked those who wanted to live a new life to come forwards. Stephen was one of those responding. The murderous attack did not take place. He told us his story when speaking to a large group of youngsters in our home. The message about Jesus, the gospel, can have a captivating effect on people even today.

Something similar happened to the temple guard. When they reported back to the chief priests and Pharisees they were asked,

“Why didn’t you bring him in?” John 7:45

They gave an extraordinary reply which says so much about Jesus,

“No-one ever spoke the way this man does.” John 7:46

The original wording used by John is emphatic, and means ‘No human being ever spoke like this.” The guard ‘declared’; this was no sheepish apology, they were confident of their opinion.

This is strong, first-hand witness to the effect Jesus was having on people and this is given by those who were opposed to him. For permanent change people must be convinced that Jesus really is the incarnation of God.

Bishop Stephen Neil wrote one of the best books about other faiths, called “Christian Faith and Other Faiths’. The last chapter is on Christianity. He gives a clear analysis of what he calls the ‘last question’.

“Have our questioners ever really looked at Jesus Christ and tried to see him as he is? For if we take the gospels seriously, and at the same time as critically as you will, Jesus is not the least like anyone else who has ever lived. The things that he says about God are not the same as the sayings of the religious teachers. The claims that he makes for himself are not the same as those that have been made by any other religious teacher. His criticisms of human life and society are more devastating than any other man has ever made. The demands he makes on men are more searching than those put forward by any other religious teacher. . . To say all this does not necessarily say Jesus is right – it is simply a plea for plain honesty.”

The temple guard were saying something similar when they honestly reported what they had discovered.

Today there are many who say that they respect Jesus and regard him as a good teacher. This usually suggests that they have never really listened to what Jesus said. The writer and scholar, C.S. Lewis wrote in his epic book ‘Mere Christianity’,

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Anyone who has ever listened to Jesus will never say, in a patronising way, that he is a good man, a good teacher. If they listen they may get the shock of their lives. And what Jesus says is backed up by solid evidence.

Prejudice is Rife

John picks up this theme of prejudice throughout his gospel. Early in his book he recounts the conversation between Philip and his friend Nathanuel. He tells him that their Messiah has come.

“We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and of whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanuel’s reply is scathing,

‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” John 1:45-46

Philip’s answer is as brilliant as it is simple,

“Come and see.” John 1:46

The answer to prejudice is ‘Examine the evidence, make up your own mind based on what is true - investigate.’

The Jewish leaders were also prejudiced against Jesus. They were willing to condemn him without an investigation of the evidence. Look to the end of the chapter, Nicodemus, the ruler who came to see Jesus ‘in the dark’ in chapter 3, now demands that a proper investigation is undertaken.

“Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?” John 7:51

He reminds the rulers that procedures are carefully laid down in the Old Testament and that no magistrate should go into court prejudiced. This is the oldest principle of law in all civilised societies. The Pharisees are rebuked because they were clearly prejudiced. The hallmarks of this prejudice are clear. The Pharisees were clearly very annoyed at the report of the temple guards concerning Jesus,

“’You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. ‘Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?’” John 7:47-48

The evidence of the temple guardsmen was disregarded as they were not important people. Modern methods to promote ideas can be seen in this account by John.

a. The influential don’t believe

The same prejudice is common today. The book of 2 Peter says much about the return of Christ to rule his world. A radical scholar has commented,

“No scholar today believes in the literal return of Jesus Christ to this world as judge of the living and the dead.”

Another scholar, Dr Cranfield of Durham has rejected this, saying that he does believe in the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and King. It is so easy to be overawed by such methods of propaganda. In schools you hear it said,

“Nobody who matters goes to the Christian Union!’

In business there is often the same prejudice,

“Nobody in our group bothers with church or the Bible anymore. We get along fine as we are.”

Throughout life we meet this prejudice. Bertrand Russell wrote an essay entitled ‘Why I am not a Christian.’ When I read this I expected to find clear arguments that countered the claims of Jesus and his apostles. But he couldn’t do this, instead he argued that there is no clear evidence for there being a God so Jesus couldn’t be the son of God. The journalist Lee Strobel was prejudiced against Jesus and this exploded when his wife became a Christian. He decided to investigate the evidence for her faith in order to disprove it but his prejudice withered as he confronted the evidence and eventually he committed his life to Christ.

Thank God for people such as Nicodemus who will stand up and say, ‘I’m not so sure. Let us investigate the facts.’

Intimidation is a classic way to terrorise people into rejecting Jesus. Those with a public voice say ‘People that matter, who think, who are important – they don’t believe.’ Control the media and it seems the masses follow. This is why the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Society are so keen to place their supporters in responsible positions in society.

b. What the mob thinks doesn’t matter

Bishop Ryle wisely commented,

“The multitude who followed Luther in Germany, our own Reformers in England, the leaders of Christian Revival in the last century (that is the eighteenth century) are always attacked as ignorant enthusiasts whose opinions were worth nothing. When the enemies of vital religion cannot prevent people flocking after the gospel, and cannot answer the arguments of its advocates, they often fight with the Pharisees, as in this verse. They content themselves with the cheap and easy assertion that those who do not agree with them are ignorant and know nothing and it therefore counts as nothing what they think.”

When Nicodemus has the courage to rebuke his peers for being prejudiced, they turn on him.

“Are you from Galilee too? Look into it, and you will find . . .” John 7:52

A slogan that can be shouted can be much more effective than reasoned argument. Notice how television is now full of sound-bites and slogans. They spoke with great dogmatism but had conveniently forgotten that the prophet Jonah came from Galilee. But then, for them, facts were less important that getting their own way. Anything said with conviction and dogmatically is assumed by many to be true. We must all beware of being seduced by the pleasant smiles, wit and rhetoric of people who do not base what they say on sound argument. Such people do not enjoy being questioned.

‘You will find that a prophet does not come from Galilee.’ John 7:52

Sheer prejudice! Didn’t they know what the prophet Isaiah had said or didn’t they want to know?

“In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles.” Isaiah 9:1

We must all answer for ourselves over our reaction to Jesus. Am I prejudiced? Have I bothered to investigate the evidence? Am I willing to listen and study?

Faith is Vital

The journey of Nicodemus to faith is helpful for us today.

a. He gradually came to faith

John makes it clear that he wants people to make reasoned and lifelong commitments to Christ. He stresses how many come to faith slowly. The woman at Samaria was gradually brought to faith in Jesus as she heard him and looked at the evidence (John 4). The blind man who Jesus healed in John chapter 9 gradually comes to see the truth. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night. He is in the dark but has questions (John 3) . In this passage he stands up for the truth. Later, when Jesus is crucified he comes out as a Christian and stands beside Joseph of Arimathea as they collect Jesus’ body (John 19).

John knows that some people start a long way away from faith. If someone does not come from a family of faith it is unlikely, unless there is a shining light from heaven, that people will come to faith in one day. We must encourage people to think about their prejudices, to think, to look at the evidence and decide what is preventing them from taking God at his word.

Nicodemus gradually came to understand the reasonableness of Jesus Christ and how this contrasted with the unreasonable prejudice of his opponents.

Nicodemus had to have the courage to stand up for his convictions. So it is today. No-one will come to a saving faith without such courage. Isn’t this why Jesus asks his followers to be publicly baptised? That is not easy. Isn’t this why all Christians are called to ‘confess Christ’ publicly,

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and so are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

It is not enough to inwardly assent to Christian truths. There is a need for courage. We must stand up and nail our colours to the mast. Doing this will cause a reaction and as a result others will be encouraged to make a decision about Christ.

Those opposed to Jesus may shout loudly but their arguments are incredibly weak. The Temple Guards were surely right when they courageously concluded,

“No-one ever spoke like this man.” John 7:46

BVP