No man ever spoke like this Man!

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, 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.

- John 7:37-52

Current events in our reading take place at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn festival, during the last year of Jesus' life.  This festival commemorates the time that Israel wandered in the desert of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles," temporary dwellings.  It is also a feast of the coming Kingdom.  Yesterday we read that about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.   The last day, that great day of the feast is the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.   There was a ceremony of drawing water from a pool, commemorating the water flowing from a rock that Moses struck, which provides the context for the words of Christ.  This living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the new life that accompanies the gift.

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.   The Prophet, my study bible tells us, refers to the expected Messiah, the Savior that Moses foretold would come (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  Bethlehem was the town from which Christ was prophesied to come (Micah 5:2).  We can see the deep divisions stirring among the people because of Christ.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."   The chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (see yesterday's reading).  Now we are at the last day of the Feast, and no arrest has yet happened.  These officers, says my study bible, had been converted by the Lord's teaching.  The Pharisees and scribes, according to St. John Chrysostom, who had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either (see again yesterday's reading for Jesus' words to them).  These officers, on the contrary, although they could claim none of the learning of the leaders, were "captivated by a single sermon."  St. Chrysostom continues, saying that when the mind is open "there is no need for long speeches.  Truth is like that." 

Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, 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.  Nicodemus had spoken with Jesus (which we read about in chapter 3), at which time Jesus taught him about baptism and the Holy Spirit, and his faith had increased.  But, says my study bible, his defense of Christ was still based on our law and wasn't yet a public profession of faith (see also John 19:38-39).   According to the Jewish law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged (see Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17).   To say that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee is to show blind hatred and ignorance of the Scriptures.  The prophet Jonah came from Galilee, from the town of Gath Hepher, only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25).

Jesus comes speaking the truth, the spiritual truth, and in some sense, it's as if all chaos comes into the picture in response.  At least on the part of those who resent Him, and who want to do away with Him, we see all kinds of "craziness," one might say.  The leadership, those "in charge" of religious life, suddenly seem to forget their own law, and their own Scriptures, in which they are the experts.  It is Nicodemus who stands up for the procedures of the law, and the leaders respond falsely and with scorn that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.  John tells us that there was a division among the people because of Him.  We must remember Christ's own words about the effect of His truth in the world:  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.'"  (Matthew 10:34-36; Jesus also quotes here from Micah 7:6.)  Jesus goes even further than this in the following verses from Matthew 10:  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."  These are tough words to follow, but we witness the effect of His teaching, His words, and His presence in the events recorded here by John.  There is a division among the people, and the officers sent to arrest Him are unable to do so because of His word.  The leadership becomes so furious as to be nearly beside themselves, forgetting their own law and Scripture.  We mustn't forget that these images are not simply teachings about historical events, but they are images of truths that tell us something about Christ, about the power of His word, and about our own choices in life -- and in the nitty-gritty personal details in the working out of our own salvation, on a personal and individual scale.  Christ's word and His truths will call each of us in our own way to "guide our steps to His commands" (see Psalm 119:133).  Our problems may not be as epic nor as public as Jesus' situation, but the conflicts that arise for us in pursuit of this faith may feel just as acute as the situations we read about in the Gospels.  We may struggle with the actions and choices of friends, relatives, our closest relationships on earth.  But everything will come down to how we find ourselves called to follow Christ.  This is a calling that, as He says above, cuts through and below and more deeply than everything else, and we must be prepared to deal with the difficult choices that will come in pursuing a life lived in the love of Christ.  Whatever we are, those choices will come to us.  It becomes our job to find the way of negotiating our lives in the world according to the ways we're taught.  We remember that God "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mathew 5:45), and understand that life doesn't offer us simple choices in black and white -- but that nevertheless we will be called to choose our values in our hearts and to live them.  That goes even for the times in which we may feel alone if we do so.  This is carrying our own cross.  The story of the Gospels is also the story of the growing faith of Christ's disciples and followers, those who have to make choices, who will be eventually forced to make the toughest of choices in their love for Him.  So we learn about the world, and mustn't be surprised by what we may encounter, if we're in this for the long haul, so to speak.  Faith is the journey of a lifetime.  Let us remember that He is our refuge.