I met a man who especially enjoyed TV shows about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. He was a godly soul, and I believe that even if he had riches, he would more likely have given them all to the poor than live the high life himself. What struck me most about him was his lack of judgement upon these often wasteful and dishonest people. But he maintained that every person has their own set of struggles, and theirs was to live out the problems of those privileged lifestyles that so fascinated him.
The religious leaders of Jesus day would have thought my friend’s admiration to be well deserved—even if they would have considered him but typical of the common folk. Such was their disdain for the ordinary citizen that to be caused to consider their existence was beneath them. They were rich, educated and in charge—that’s all that mattered to them.
When the officers sent out by these leaders to arrest Jesus came back empty-handed, they were angry (John 7). Jesus was a public nuisance who needed to be ordered to stop. But instead of arresting Jesus, they returned in a state of stunned amazement: “No man ever spoke like this,” they told the Sanhedrin (John 7:46).
Remember, these officers were Levites who worked as temple security. They were part of the religious tribe of Israel. Every prejudice held by their powerful elite leaders about Jesus had been drummed into them.
But they returned, not with an excuse about a potential riot, but with the naked truth; they were visibly moved by the message of Jesus of Nazareth, and they had to say so.
Truth screams loud in a sea of lies.
The hypocrisy of most of the Sanhedrin may have been excused, but everybody who heard Jesus saw the difference.
They preached woeful words of death; Jesus preached wonderful words of life.
John Staiger
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