Thoughts on the Gospel of John (48) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2023

Nicodemus … , being one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing? They answered and said to him, Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. And everyone went to his own house. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
John 7:50-8:1.

Thoughts on the Gospel of John (48)
Hadn’t the Pharisees just maintained that none of the leaders and Pharisees believed in Jesus? How fanaticism leads to erroneous ideas!

Quite unexpectedly someone appeared who was both a leader and a Pharisee: Nicodemus. We know Him: he came to Jesus one night with a question and made His acquaintance. He rightly applied the law of Moses, which states several times that a matter must be thoroughly examined before a judgment is pronounced (Leviticus 13:15; 17:4; 19:18). The Pharisees had totally overlooked this important point, but they refused to accept Nicodemus’ objection. They took the offensive and asked him if he came from Galilee, knowing full well that it was not true. Their question was intended to make Nicodemus understand that he should not try to defend a Galilean.

Their demand that Nicodemus should search the law only revealed their own ignorance; and they had just cursed the people for not knowing it! They had thereby pronounced their own sentence. Didn’t the Pharisees know the books of Jonah and Nahum? Both these prophets came from Galilee, one from Gath Hepher (2 Kings 14:25), the other probably from the town of Elkosh (Nahum 1:1).

The question constantly arose: who was this Jesus of Nazareth? The entire gospel of John confirms “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 21:31).

(to be continued next Sunday)

Today’s reading: Daniel 3:19-30 · Psalms 39:7-13