Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

 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 them.  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."

- John 7:37-52

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn harvest festival which commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, living in tents (or "tabernacles").  It is the final year of His life.  On Saturday, 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.   Among the many commemorations during the feast, on the last day there was the ceremony of the drawing of water.  This provides the context here for Jesus' teaching, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  The living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, my study bible says, and the new life that accompanies this gift.  One may consider that John's Gospel is the last to be written of the four; it reflects the shaping of theological understanding (particularly of the activity of the Holy Spirit) via the experience of the Church in its first century, and the teachings of this disciple who was so close to both Jesus and His mother (19:26-27).

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 them.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  The Prophet is a reference to the expected Messiah, the Savior foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.   According to the prophecy of Micah (Micah 5:2), Bethlehem was the town from which the Christ was expected to come.  The crowds do not know that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7).   They know Him as being from Nazareth in Galilee, where He was raised (Matthew 2:19-23).

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."   We recall that the chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (see Saturday's reading, above).  But by the time of the last day, the eighth day of the Feast, no arrest was made.  These officers were converted by Christ's teaching.  We can hear the awe in their words, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  My study bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom on this passage.  Although the Pharisees and the scribes had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures," they "derived no benefit" from either.  On the other hand, these officers, although they could claim none of the learning of the religious leadership, were "captivated by a single sermon."  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."  Once again, Nicodemus makes an appearance in John's Gospel (see 3:1-21, in which Jesus teaches Nicodemus who's come to Him by night).  We can read the character of Nicodemus in his rather bold words, he's clearly a just man.  But also, since the time he was taught by Christ, his faith has increased.  But, my study bible says, his defense of Jesus is still based on our law.  This is not yet a public profession of faith (see 19:38-39).  In accordance with the law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17).   In their reply, the Pharisees who both their blind hatred of Christ and also an ignorance of the Scriptures.  The prophet Jonah was from Galilee, from the town of Gath Hepher, which was only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25). 

It strikes one as ironic that the Pharisees scathingly reply to Nicodemus, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."  Have they forgotten about Jonah?  Is it a fact that eludes them?  To be sure, Jonah's place of origin is mentioned in a slight phrase in the Scriptures, but they are supposed to be the experts.  It's also an irony, because elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus replies to their demand for a sign from Him, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah" (see Matthew 12:38-41, Luke 11:29-32).  In another level of irony, or perhaps of the poetry of the Gospels in which so much is related and thematically consistent, both of those references to the sign of Jonah are also couched in language of justice and judgment.  Here in John's Gospel, Jesus' reply to the leaders' demand for a sign is also put into the significant language of "three days" (the time Jonah spent in the body of the fish), but here Jesus speaks in another riddle or metaphor they must decipher:  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (2:18-22).  John's Gospel yet again is suggesting to us that everything depends upon the ground in us upon which Jesus' words fall (see the parable of the Sower, the first parable given by Christ in the Synoptic Gospels).  Here in today's reading, these well-educated experts in Scripture have not only apparently forgotten their law and how it judges a man, but they've also forgotten about the origins of the Prophet Jonah.  If we were to speak of this scene with a modern twist, it's as if they are having the memory problems common to aging.  Particular elements of their own milieu and expertise are missing from their minds, from the phrases and conclusions at which they grasp in their hatred and envy of Jesus.  The Gospel gives us a sign as well for our own lives in this passage.  It tells us what anger, hatred, and particularly envy do to us.  We "blank out" the things we don't want to remember, and the things we don't want to hear.  We project onto others the malice in our hearts when we can't see clearly their own motivations due to our own struggle for authority and recognition in some way or another.  We fail to see things God's way when all is conceived as competitive struggle.  Without the self-knowledge always called for by our prayer lives and Jesus' teachings, we will fail in our own conduct.  We will fail to uphold the principles and values that are best for us and for our own communities, however small or large they may be.  Entitlement figures largely here, and the arrogance that goes with it.  The Gospels say that we simply can't think straight when we have blindness to our own failings and weaknesses (Matthew 7:3-5, Luke 6:41-42).  While we have seen a great deal of the Gospel indicating the growth of faith, here we have an illustration of a different kind of growth that is necessary for all of us:  growth in our own process of repentance.  That is, there is parallel growth in our awareness of ourselves if our faith is to truly grow.  From the beginning of monastic life in the early Christian desert communities, this has been the goal of spiritual growth.  We don't seek simply after the highs of the spiritual life, but also after the hidden parts of ourselves which will be drawn out and challenged and transformed through spiritual struggle, brought to the light of Christ also for our growth in faith.  In the New Testament Scriptures, we see the transformation of the apostles, especially St. Peter, as his weaknesses are also exposed in the light of Christ.  The blindness of these leaders is that which forms obstacles to faith within the heart, from which we all may suffer, and to which all of us are vulnerable.  Nicodemus has the open mind required for the steps to faith; he is also capable of recognizing the failures of his own group, his fellow Pharisees.  We have to consider what terrible choice and dilemma this will pose for him, and with what heartbreak such recognition happens.  This, too, is part of the life of the Cross.  None of us is far from it; may God's protection and guidance be with all those who struggle with similar choices.