Afraid of Whom?
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God John 12:42,43
As the signs performed by Moses were met with a hard heart by Pharaoh, so the signs performed by Jesus have been met with hard hearts by the Jews – but not entirely. ‘Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him.’ Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (19:38-40) were probably the most influential of this group but there would certainly have been others.
‘But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.’ Fear of the Pharisees by those who believed in Jesus was principally because of the earlier decision to put out of the synagogue anyone who believed Jesus was the Christ (9:22). While the Pharisees and the priestly class were not close (the Pharisees saw the priestly class, the Sadducees, as being liberal), the Pharisees linked with the chief priests against Jesus and His followers (7:32,45; 11:47,57; 18:3).
Because the synagogue was central to the cultural, social, economic as well as spiritual life of Jews, being barred meant being cut off from the community. Anyone ‘put out of the synagogue’ would not be able to continue working for or with other Jews. The only alternative would be to move entirely out of the area. All this made the fear of the Pharisees very real.
Against this kind of pressure Jesus still expected His followers to confess Him openly. Probably the major reason some might refuse would be because ‘they loved praise from men more than praise from God.’ In 5:44 Jesus had asked the Jews ‘How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?’ Being praised by their peers and being praised by God were mutually exclusive. To get one you had to forfeit the other; so which was it going to be?
Jesus only wanted the Father’s approval (7:18; 8:29,50). Pleasing the Father meant more to Jesus than anything else (8:29).
Following Jesus back then was costly. It still is. The same people who expect Jesus to declare their names openly on judgement day are the ones He expects to declare His name openly now. ‘If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels’ (Mark 8:48). ‘Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge Him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 10:32).
Take these words to heart. How can you better ‘acknowledge’ Jesus before others?
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