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 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 

 

On Saturday we read that about the middle of the feast of Tabernacles (in the final year of Christ's earthly life) 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.  My study Bible tells us that the last day, that great day of the feast was the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The ceremony of the drawing of water from the pool of Siloam provides the backdrop for Christ's teaching here.  (This pool will play a role in yet another "sign" given on this day, which appears in chapter 9.)   It's in this context in which He says, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  The living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and 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.  This is the Savior foretold by Moses (see Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  The debate over the town of Jesus' birth is due to the prophesy that Bethlehem of Judea was the town from which the Christ was expected to come (Micah 5:2).  The crowd doesn't know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but He was brought up in Nazareth of Galilee following the family's exile in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23), hence the confusion and division.

 

 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."  My study Bible reminds us that the chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (verse 32; see yesterday's reading, above).  By the time this last day had arrived (the eighth day of the Feast), there had been no arrest made.  This is because, according to my study Bible, these officers had been converted by Christ's teaching.   My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who says that 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 claim none of the learning of the Pharisees and scribes, 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."

 

 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."  Earlier in the Gospel, we read of Nicodemus being taught by Jesus at night (John 3:1-21).  Since that time, he has increased in faith.  But his defense of Jesus here is still based on "our law" and is not yet a public profession of faith, my study Bible comments (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).   The Pharisees respond to Nicodemus that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.  My study Bible says that in so doing, they show their blind hatred and ignorance of the Scriptures, as the prophet Jonah came from Galilee, from the town of Gath Hepher -- which was only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25).  

 

Perhaps it is in some way strangely ironic that the Pharisees respond scathingly to Nicodemus, claiming that no prophet has ever arisen from Galilee.  In fact, as my study Bible points out, a very important prophet came from Galilee, the prophet Jonah.  It is the prophet Jonah to whom Jesus will refer when He is constantly asked for a sign from these same men.  In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus is asked by the scribes and Pharisees for a sign, and His reply to them is, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (see Matthew 12:38-42).  In St. Luke's Gospel, He gives the same teaching to the crowds (see Luke 11:29-32).  Perhaps this omission on the part of the Pharisees is meant to be understood to teach us about the nature of a kind of blindness we might call "intentional forgetting."  In their rage and envy, perhaps they've forgotten, or they have resorted to a deliberate lie to silence the dissent of Nicodemus (and we can hear their gratuitous insult to him as well).  These mysterious omissions and connections in the Gospels do indeed teach us something about our own blindness, for what these men do is not limited to them and their time.  Indeed, as we know that St. John's Gospel is so much a focus on truth and its nature (often understood as light) -- and the deliberate darkness that is chosen to avoid it -- this is yet another subtle lesson to us about fallen human nature and our capacity to blind ourselves to the things of God, and perhaps the desire to defy God (see John 1:4-5).  At any rate, this is a somewhat "convenient" form of forgetting for these experts in the Scriptures.  In their raging passions, they are making terrible mistakes, spiritually and otherwise, and this, too, teaches us something about the historical view of the Church regarding our own susceptibility to such mistakes.  We are not meant to point fingers at these men, but to carefully consider how we might be like them, and what to do about it.  In the calendar of the Church, we are proceeding forward just now to enter into the period of Great Lent.  For the Western Churches, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 18th.  For the East and the Orthodox, Lent begins on February 23rd, and we are currently in a preparation period for the Lenten fast.  Historically and universally across churches and denominations, Lent and the fasting practices associated with it have been considered times not simply for reflection but for cultivating the opposite of what these religious leaders are indulging in.  That is, for cultivating dispassion, learning to say no to the impulses to do us no good, whether that be rage, lust, gluttony, envy, or any number of things that lead us away from spiritual discipline and our capacity to hear the things of God and incorporate into our lives the teachings of Jesus.  This is the purpose of the fast, not to refrain simply from foods (for there are no "bad" foods in Christianity; see Mark 7:18-19), but learning spiritual discipline, how to say no to our harmful impulses and indulgences in order to cultivate a more healthy spiritual life.  We don't just fast from foods, but the goal is to fast from behaviors such as the ones we observe here, and to better know ourselves in the process, building up spiritual strength and knowing our own weaknesses.  There's no better time to look toward the events of Christ's life as we read through the Gospel, and learn from the mistakes we observe, so that we are better able to find correction when we indulge in the same types of rage, self-righteousness, and false judgment here.   There is no better time to cultivate dispassion through the traditional practices of Lent, lest we be drawn into the forces that seek to ensnare us into the same types of behavior, especially that which is promoted through social media for all kinds of reasons and motivations which may be hidden from us, encouraging us to simply "follow the crowd."  Manipulation of appearances may take all kinds of forms, and only Saturday we read that Jesus taught us, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Let us cherish the resources we're given in the Church at this time to help us to better do so.