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 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." 

- John 7:37-52

In our current readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, which is an eight-day autumn festival commemorating the time when Israel dwelt in tents (or tabernacles), in search of the promised land.  On Saturday we read that about the middle of the feast Jesus went up to 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 aid 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.  On this day, the ceremony of the drawing of water took place, and this provides the context for Jesus' words, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  He draws us (and the audience of His contemporaries) through the spiritual history of Israel to more profound revelation:  the living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the new life that accompanies that 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 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.  My study bible explains that the Prophet refers to the expected Messiah, the Savior foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.  The people argue about the origins of the Messiah:  Bethlehem in Judea, not Galilee, was the place from which the Christ was prophesied to come (Micah 5:2).  The people only know that Christ comes from Nazareth in Galilee, but not that He was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7).

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 earlier sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus, in the middle of the Feast (verse 32; see yesterday's reading above).  Now it is the last, eighth day of the Feast, and no arrest has been made.  These officers, according to my study bible, have been converted by the teaching of Christ.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, noting that the Pharisees and scribes who had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either.  The officers, however, although they are not educated as are the leaders, were "captivated by a single sermon."  St. Chrysostom adds that when the mind is open, "there is no need for long speeches.  Truth is like that."  We note also the leaders' contempt for the crowd.

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."   Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and was taught by Him (chapter 3).  By now his faith has increased.  His defense of Christ is still rooted in our law, and is not yet a public profession of faith (see 19:38-39), as my study bible notes here.  In accordance with the law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17).  The leaders insist that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.  My study bible calls this an expression of blind hatred and ignorance of the Scriptures.  Somewhere ironically, it is Jonah who came from Galilee, the town of Gath Hepher, three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25).  Ironically, because it is the "sign of Jonah" which Jesus will teach will be the single sign the leaders will receive (Matthew 16:1-4).

Let us note that through today's reading is threaded once again concerns about justice and judgment.  Nicodemus insists that the law cannot condemn, or rather, judge a man without a hearing.  We note the contempt the leadership has for these crowds, an important thing to understand when we encounter the manipulation of the crowds that will come at the time of the Crucifixion (Matthew 27:20, Mark 15:11).  In addition to their contempt for the crowds, the leaders are either ignorant of Scripture (strange, as they are the experts in it) or openly profess that Scripture does not include something, while they know very well that it does.  They claim no prophet has arisen out of Galilee, which is false.  In these ways to evade a just judgment and hearing of Christ, they manipulate to achieve their own political ends.  John's Gospel makes clear distinctions, albeit easily hidden from modern listeners, between aims which are purely political and those who love their spiritual heritage.  It is essential to remember that Jesus, His followers, the beneficiaries of His healings and signs, and all those in the Gospel who follow Him (unless explicitly stated they are outsiders such as the Samaritans in chapter 4) are Jews.  That would include the purported author of this Gospel as well.  But John goes to great pains to show that for the leadership, it is the political battle that matters.  (Therefore, when we read the term "the Jews" in John's Gospel, it is essential to retain the understanding that it is used as a political term to refer to the contemporary leaders of Christ's time, and not to the people.)  While it is easy for modern hearers to misunderstand, we must be aware that John is explicitly giving us a picture of what it is to manipulate spiritual truth and heritage for purely political and personal gain.  Since the early Church consisted of so many Jewish followers of Jesus, including John the Evangelist and the apostles, this distinction would have been apparent and known to the immediate audience for the Gospel.  The early Church and the tradition of the Patristic Fathers would adhere to this basic perspective of Christ's continuity within and expansion of understanding and illumination of Jewish spiritual history (such as is illustrated by Christ's very words regarding living water in today's text).  But still, we can read the unmistakable signs of political machination:  the leaders who seek to arrest and condemn Christ without a hearing -- made clear to us in contradiction to Jewish law, the Pharisees and Council Members such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who do support Christ, the officers sent to arrest Him who cannot do so, and the people - who are bewildered, afraid of speaking openly before the leadership, divided about Christ, and finally manipulated by their own leaders at the Crucifixion.  The Gospel goes out of its way to make clear that spiritual and religious adherence to truth must spill out into our personal lives as well, our conduct, our ethics, and above all a love of truth and righteous judgment that must accompany that love.  Our devotion to God does not leave out what must follow when we look at the world and make decisions about how we will conduct ourselves.  It is a thread asking us a question about righteous judgment which runs right through the Gospels, and especially these conflicts with the leaders, and the portrayal of the common people who remain so much in the dark, and are frequently like "sheep not having a shepherd" (Mark 6:34).  Although throughout history we can see the same dynamic played out, and they are all too common, this is not a history lesson.  It is a lesson about spiritual truth, the truth of God.  When revelation comes, it comes frequently in a pattern that is a surprise -- and that is its very nature.  God always asks us to use righteous judgment, to open up our eyes to accept what might have seemed unacceptable, what is unfamiliar, and unknown, for that is the very nature of revelation itself.  God takes us beyond our old assumptions and boundaries, and seeks to expand our own righteousness on a constant and daily basis.  If we do not understand faith as this kind of a journey toward a greater unity of faith, a deeper place of participation in Christ, a closer and more intimate and profound relationship to Creator in which the Trinity also participates in us, then we are not reading our faith nor the Gospels correctly -- for it is in the words of Christ as reported in this Gospel that we find all of this.  The religious leaders worry about their places, and the disruption caused by Christ.  This might be perfectly understandable; it may even be their understanding of the proper functioning in their roles as leaders and guardians of their faith heritage.  But their political manipulation, their contempt for the crowds, their ignorance of Scripture, and their inability even to hear Christ reveal a different reality.  It gives us injustice, unrighteousness, contempt for truth, deceit, deliberate lies, and twisting of their own laws and institutions in order to rid themselves of this threat to their power.  Let us consider that for each one of us, this story with its warnings about hypocrisy and deliberate manipulation and distortion of truth, holds a potent warning for our own weaknesses and selfishness.  For none of us are strangers to such temptations in our own lives and our own choices in life as to how we will look at what God brings to us each day.  None of us is immune to the frailties shown by the leaders nor their passions -- even outrage -- at what seems to be a threat to their places.  This is why, in our faith, such strong emphasis is placed on self-knowledge, and Christ reserves His harshest words for hypocrisy, for we so often easily fool ourselves as to our own mixed motives, fears, and the things we need to change which will make us rather less proud of ourselves.  It is why, throughout the entire tradition of the Church, humility has been considered the greatest of virtues and the foundation for all the rest of them.  None of us is absent faults.  Let us remember, as we seek best to follow Him, to put our own wills aside and pray that He lives, dwells, guides, and prays in us.  Let us remember that repentance means "change of mind," and that it is meant to be an ongoing process as we follow His way (14:6).