John 7:45-51 (NIVUK)
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’
46 ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied.
47 ‘You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. 48 ‘Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.’
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 ‘Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?’
Is John giving us a lesson here on the importance of not simply believing what we’re told second hand by others, but checking it out for ourselves? A second hand faith is no faith at all; as is often said, Christianity is about knowing Jesus, not knowing about him. The Pharisees and Chief Priests haven’t really made the effort to hear what he is truly saying, unlike the guards and Nicodemus (a reminder to take care with John’s polarised or hyperbolic language as Nicodemus is one of the religious leaders who does seem to have listened to Jesus).
Thank you Lord that you are a personal God who willingly enters into relationship with us. Help me to invest in a first hand faith.
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