Scripture:
John 7:45–52
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” 46 The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” 47 Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived, too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law, they are accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before and who was one of them, asked, 51 “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” 52 They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” (NRSVUE)
Observation:
The chief priests and Pharisees had sent the temple police to arrest Jesus. But when the officers encountered Him, something unexpected happened. They came back without Him.
“Why did you not arrest him?”
Their answer was remarkably simple: “Never has anyone spoken like this!”
You can almost hear the frustration in the response of the religious leaders. Surely the officers hadn’t been deceived too! After all, had any of the authorities or Pharisees believed in Jesus? Then they dismissed the crowd as ignorant people who didn’t know the law and therefore couldn’t possibly judge Jesus correctly.
But there in the midst of it all was Nicodemus. He had already gone to Jesus at night and listened to Him. Now Nicodemus tried to slow things down. Their own law, he reminded them, did not judge someone without first giving that person a hearing.
Instead of considering what Nicodemus said, they turned on him.
“Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?”
There is a great deal of irony in this scene. The people who are accusing everyone else of ignorance are so certain of their own judgment that they aren’t willing to stop and listen.
Application:
We’ve all done it, haven’t we? We’ve made judgment calls about people without having all the information. We jump to conclusions and write people off without taking the time to listen, have a conversation, or understand where they are coming from.
My social media feed is currently filled with political commercials. Oh my! Attack ads are designed to give us carefully selected pieces of information about another person—just enough negative information to make us question that person’s character. If we’re not careful, we can form an entire judgment about someone from what another person has chosen to tell us.
The reality is that if we took the time to sit down and really listen to people, we might discover things we didn’t know. That doesn’t mean we will always agree with them. Listening doesn’t require agreement. But it does mean we’re willing to hear before we judge.
And what about the prejudice concerning where someone comes from? “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?” The dismissal is almost palpable. We can do the same thing. We look at people, size them up, and make judgments because of where they’re from, how they look, what they’re wearing, how they speak, or the group with which we associate them.
Nicodemus tried to be a voice of reason, and simply for asking that Jesus receive a fair hearing, suspicion turned toward him as well.
We need voices like Nicodemus today—people willing to slow things down and say, “Have we actually listened?”
Sometimes speaking truth means refusing to join the rush to judgment.
And sometimes we need to turn that question on ourselves. What judgment calls have I already made? Whom have I dismissed without really listening? Where have I become so certain that I already know the answer that I am no longer open to seeing something I may have missed?
Most of these religious leaders missed what was right in front of them. They had waited for the Messiah, studied the Scriptures, and longed for God’s deliverance. Yet when Jesus stood before them, their assumptions about who He should be and where He should come from became part of what kept them from recognizing Him.
That’s sobering.
We can become so certain of our own judgments that we fail to recognize what God is doing right in front of us.
Be careful with judgment calls.
Listen first.
Prayer:
Lord, I confess how easy it is for me to become judgmental and to form opinions before I have really listened. Give me the humility to recognize the limits of what I know. Help me to live in grace, offering to others the hearing and understanding I would want offered to me. And keep my heart open so that my assumptions never prevent me from recognizing what You are doing right in front of me. Amen.
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