John 7:40-53

Jeremiah 11:18-20

Psalm 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

John 7:40-53

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Then each went to his own house.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you sent your only begotten Son to save the world. In all things, you

manifest your infinite love for humanity. You did not abandon us when we deserved death.

Instead, you sent your Son to redeem us, to lift the ancient curse, and to restore us as your children.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Christ from David’s Family: During the week-long Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus began to teach in the Temple area feast. He demonstrated a deep knowledge of scripture without having attended a rabbinic school in Jerusalem. He also addressed the concern of the people that he worked on the Sabbath to cure a paralytic (John 5:1-18). During his teaching, the people began to wonder whether Jesus was the Prophet-like-Moses or the Messiah (the Christ). One issue was that for Jesus to be the Messiah, he had to come from David’s family and be born in Bethlehem as prophesied in Micah 5:1. The Gospel of John indicates that the crowds were seemingly ignorant of the circumstances of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and also his Davidic lineage. This is something we know from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. John alludes to this but also teaches that Jesus has a divine and eternal origin. He is the Word, eternally begotten of the Father, who became flesh in the fullness of time (John 1:1-18).

2. The Galilean Prophet: When the guards, sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees to arrest Jesus, returned without Jesus, they professed their admiration for Jesus’ teaching and words. The Pharisees and religious authorities tried to downplay the authority of Jesus’ teaching and accused the crowds of being accursed and ignorant of the Law of Moses. The Pharisees were adamant that Jesus violated the Sabbath rest by curing the paralytic on the Sabbath, during either the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of Tabernacles the prior year. The Pharisees also addressed those in the crowds who thought Jesus was the Prophet. Earlier Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and proclaimed him “a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2). Here, Nicodemus asks that the religious authorities follow the Law of Moses and listen to Jesus and find out what he is doing before condemning him (Deuteronomy 1:16-17). When the Pharisees responded to Nicodemus, they accused him of being ignorant of the fact that no prophet arises from Galilee. On the one hand, this is false since there were at least five northern prophets – Jonah, Nahum, Hosea, Elijah, and Elisha – all connected to the land known as Galilee. As well, Isaiah 8:23 actually prophesied that Galilee would see a great light (see Matthew 4:12-17). On the other hand, Jesus was born, not in Galilee, but in Bethlehem. This is something John’s readers know from Matthew’s Gospel.

3. The Lamb of God and the New Tree of Life: The Gospel proclaims Jesus as the Christ, the royal Son of David, sent by God to redeem his people. It also proclaims Jesus as the Prophet-like-Moses, who will teach the New Law of grace and truth. The First Reading, from Jeremiah, gives us two more Old Testament images that Jesus fulfills in his person. The first image is that of a lamb led to the slaughter. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who through his sacrifice on the Cross, takes away the sins of the world. As we saw in the Gospel, the Pharisees and chief priests were the ones who hatched plots against the Lamb. The second image is that of a tree. Those who hatched plots against the Lamb of God also sought to cut down the tree in its vigor. Jesus, we know, is the branch that shoots forth from the fallen stump of Jesse. Jesus will be cut down at his crucifixion, but rise again as the Tree of Life. The way to the old Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was blocked by the cherubim (Genesis 3:24). The way to the new Tree of Life has been opened up (Revelation 22:2). This new Tree of Life is Jesus, who gives us the Eucharist, the food of eternal life, as we journey toward heaven.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the Anointed One who reigns at the right hand of the Father. You bring the gift of eternal life and the joy of salvation to the world. Grant me this gift today and the joy that springs from love.

Living the Word of God: How can I imitate Nicodemus’ defense of Jesus and his teaching today? What can I learn from the prophetic teaching of Jesus? How am I called to profess my faith in Jesus to others? How can I honor Jesus today?