John 7:45-52…
The Pharisees sent the temple officers to arrest Jesus but they came back empty handed. They could have given many excuses, but they chose not to follow orders because they were impressed with the teaching of Jesus. The Pharisees said that the officers had been deceived like the rest of the mob. Their proof was that there wasn’t a single leader or Pharisee that believed in Jesus. The intellectual elite were right, while the uneducated mob were wrong.
But when the Pharisees said that none of the religious leaders believed in Jesus, they were incorrect. Nicodemus had believed and now was defending Jesus, at least in some small way. Nicodemus challenged them in the law that they supposedly knew so well. The other Pharisees responded by mocking him. They stated that prophets do not come out of Galilee. Again they were incorrect in that Jonah, Hosea, and others came from Galilee. Like the Pharisees, our present anger confuses our previous knowledge to blind us to further truth.
Think about what is being exhibited here in this scene. The Pharisees were not interested in the reason why their own officers concluded that “No one ever spoke like this man!” They simply dismissed them as deceived. They wouldn’t even listen to one of their own who knew about their own laws. When time and again you so easily dismiss all the counsel around you, and stiffen your neck, soon you will be without remedy (Proverbs 29:1). It will be your own fault, yet you will wind up blaming God (Proverbs 19:3).
Have you been this way? Have you allowed yourself to ignore people in your life who are trying to get to the truth and heart of your issue? Even when presented with evidence from every corner, you would rather be backed up into your own corner than submit to the truth (Proverbs 18:1). Go ahead, keep putting up a front; the devil has got your back.
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