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 of 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 reading, Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn harvest festival that commemorates the time Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, dwelling in tents or "tabernacles."  Yesterdays 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 was the eight day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  My study Bible notes that the ceremony of the drawing of water from the pool of Siloam (in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock that Moses struck) gives the context to Christ's words here, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  The living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and also the new life that accompanies this 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.   My study Bible says that the Prophet is a reference to the expected Messiah, the Savior whose coming was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   Bethlehem was the town from which the Christ was expected to come (Micah 5:2).  

 

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 of the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  My study Bible comments here that the chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (verse 32).  By the time the last day of the Feast had arrived, no arrest had been made.  These officers had been converted by Christ's teaching.  My study Bible says that, according to St. John Chrysostom, the Pharisees and scribes who had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either.  But these officers, on the other hand, although they could not claim any of this learning, 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."   We recall from chapter 3 that Nicodemus had spoken with Jesus (John 3:1-21) and he had increased in faith.  But his defense of Christ, according to my study Bible, is still based on our law and is not yet a public profession of faith (see John 19:38-39).  According to the law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17).  When the Pharisees claim that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee they're showing what my study Bible calls their blind hatred and ignorance of the Scriptures.  The prophet Jonah came from Galilee, from a town called Gath Hepher, which was only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25).

If we look carefully, we see that John's Gospel puts a great deal of emphasis on the signs of divinity in Christ.  Of course this is clear in the seven great "signs" of healing and other miracles in the Gospel.  But with the spirituality of this Gospel, this goes much further.  In chapter 6, Jesus' teachings which illumine the Eucharist come to the fore.  The sacramental eating of His body and blood becomes a point of great contention, losing Him disciples who no longer wish to follow Him, and giving consternation to the religious leaders.  But the quality of the spiritual reality that is conveyed through our conventional experience of life remains highly illumined in all kinds of ways in this particular Gospel, a characteristic we could perhaps call Johannine.  That is, the divinity of Christ which is imbued in all His earthly life shines through.  One example in today's reading comes in the form of the response by the temple police who are called to arrest Jesus.  In Tuesday's reading, Jesus teaches, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."  In the same reading, after other disciples leave, and Jesus turns to the twelve, St. Peter tells Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  These words are paired with St. Peter's confession of faith, made on behalf of the twelve, that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God."  In today's reading, the temple police who have failed to arrest Jesus can offer no other explanation for this failure than their statement, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  This is a declaration that we can imagine is spluttered out into the faces of the furious chief priests and Pharisees, and seems to indicate the effects of Christ's words on the officers as something akin to being walloped on the side of the head.  John's Gospel begins by teaching us that Jesus is the Light (John 1:4-9).   But when these officers are gobsmacked by Christ's words, we could say it is as if they are struck by lightning, by Christ's words which are effectively filled with a dazzling light, as at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).   As He said in the previous chapter, the Spirit gives life, and His words are spirit and they are life.  The living water of which Jesus speaks in today's reading is filled with the same grace; it is the grace of the Holy Spirit.  It is the light of the Spirit that permeates John's Gospel, and flashes forth in Christ's words, so that even today the Holy Bible remains the best selling book of all time, with billions of copies circulating today in the world (between 5 and 7 billion, according to this article).  In the effect of Christ's words on these officers, we observe how this dazzling light of Christ's truth works:  some it strikes with a blinding light so that they can think of nothing else, but some it strikes where darkness is preferred and so hostility to kill that light results.  Let us consider His light, and the rivers of living water He offers to us.  Which would you prefer?  The officers tell the chief priests and the Pharisees, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  For billions of people around the world, even today, that remains ever so.