John 7:40-52 (ESV)

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. ⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Some in the crowd, those who heard Jesus declare himself the one to whom they should come for their spiritual thirst, believed he was the Prophet or the Messiah. But others said, “No way. He can’t be the Christ.” They reasoned that any good student of Scripture would know the Messiah comes from Bethlehem and not Galilee. Those people had no idea that Jesus was born in Bethlehem! In fact, God moved Caesar Augustus to issue a census so that Jesus would have to be born in the city of Bethlehem. The people began to divide over who Jesus was. The soldiers sent by the Pharisees with an arrest warrant came back empty-handed, and the religious leaders demanded, “Where is Jesus? You were sent to arrest him!” The officers explained that there was no way they could arrest him. The crowd would have been in an uproar. Right in the middle of the water-pouring ceremony, as the crowds were calling out to God to save them, Jesus declared himself as the solution to the thirst of humanity. The Pharisees were furious and wondered if the officers believed in Jesus. Then they boasted that none of the religious leaders among them believed in him.

At this point, Nicodemus, who had secretly approached Jesus at night, spoke up. He asked the Pharisees, the experts in the law, “Since when do we condemn a man without investigating his claims first?” The Pharisees accused Nicodemus, a member of the ruling class, of ignorance. They told Nicodemus to read the Scripture. The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee. They thought they were superior to these “common people.” In all the commotion, Jesus didn’t end up getting arrested as the Pharisees planned, and Nicodemus displayed great courage. He was one of them, but he stepped out from them and stated that he wasn’t buying into their logic. It is hard to identify with Christ, especially when the élite among us see us as idiots. And yet, our belief in Jesus means that we can and will stand up for him. If you are mocked for your confidence in Christ, remember the many who have walked this path before you. Be encouraged! Your hope in Jesus will be vindicated in the end.