Scripture Daily

Context No. 725 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 7:40-45: in context

40Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” 41Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? 42Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43So a division arose in the multitude because of him. 44Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. 45The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

It is the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus has been teaching in the temple, and the crowd cannot agree about him. Some say, this is really the Prophet. Others say, this is the Christ. But a third group has an objection that sounds informed. Does the Christ come out of Galilee? they ask. Has not Scripture said that the Christ comes from David's line, from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? And so the crowd splits over him, and some want him arrested, though no one manages to lay a hand on him.

The objection is the sharp part. These people reject Jesus as Messiah because he comes from Galilee, and they are exactly right about the Scripture: the Christ is to be born in Bethlehem, of David's family. What they are wrong about is Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem, of David's line; the fact they are so sure disqualifies him is a fact they never bothered to check. They hold a true standard and a false assumption, and they use the real prophecy to dismiss the very one who fulfills it. When the officers sent to seize him come back empty-handed, all they can say is that no one ever spoke like this man.

The crowd used a true Scripture and an unchecked assumption to reject the one who fit it exactly. Whom or what have I confidently dismissed on a fact I was sure of and never actually verified?

Sources