John 7:40-45: a reflection

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?”

As Jesus teaches, the crowd is divided over who he is. Some say he is the Prophet, others the Christ; but some object, Does the Christ come from Galilee? Has not Scripture said the Christ comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? A division arises. What is striking is the nature of the objection: they dismiss Jesus because they think he is from Galilee, unaware, or unwilling to find out, that he was in fact born in Bethlehem, of David's line, exactly as the Scripture required. A surface assumption became a stumbling block that kept them from the truth.

Notice how their partial knowledge led them astray. Those who objected had a real fact of Scripture on their side, the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, but a wrong assumption about Jesus, that he was merely a Galilean, and they did not trouble to check. Had they inquired, they would have found that Jesus met the very requirement they raised. Instead, they let a surface impression settle the matter, and stumbled over Jesus without ever examining the truth.

That is a caution about how we, too, can stumble over Christ. It is possible to dismiss him on the basis of a surface impression, a half-truth, an assumption we never trouble to examine, and so miss who he really is. The crowd stumbled over Galilee when the truth of Bethlehem was there to be found. Do not let a shallow assumption or an unexamined objection keep you from Christ. Take the trouble to look closely, to examine the truth about him, rather than dismissing him on the strength of a surface impression. The truth was there for the crowd to find, had they looked; it is there for you to find as well.

Lord, the crowd stumbled over Jesus because they assumed he was merely from Galilee, never troubling to learn that he was born in Bethlehem, of David's line, exactly as the Scripture required. Keep me from dismissing you on the basis of a surface impression, a half-truth, an assumption I never examine. Give me the diligence to look closely at who you really are, rather than stumbling over a shallow objection. The truth was there for the crowd to find, had they looked; help me take the trouble to seek it. Let no unexamined assumption keep me from you.