Nicodemus’ Courage
“Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number asked, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing from him to find what he is doing?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” John 7:48-52
The chief priests and the Pharisees tried to have Jesus arrested as He preached in the Temple grounds. But far from ruthlessly bringing in their man, the temple guards, who would have largely been Levites, are so impressed with Jesus that they come back empty handed. This is where our text picks up the conversation with the infuriated priests and Pharisees.
“Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No!” As far as they know, none had, but only “as far as they knew.” Nicodemus might have already become a believer and very soon there would be a number of other leaders who had become secret believers (12:42).
“But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.” Those the Pharisees called ‘this mob’ were more commonly called ‘the people of the land.’ This derogatory term was used for those who followed neither the Law of Moses nor the Pharisaical traditions. The Pharisees refused to associate with them because their uncleanness was a threat to their ritual purity.
‘Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number asked, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing from him to find what he is doing?”’ Nicodemus was both a ruler and a Pharisee and had privately gone to Jesus earlier (3:1-13). We will learn later that he had become a full disciple (19:39). Nicodemus’ concern is that the rulers and the Pharisees who had condemned the crowd for not knowing the law were themselves acting contrary to that same law by condemning Jesus without giving Him the right to defend Himself.
“Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” The other rulers and Pharisees are obviously contemptuous of Nicodemus. It clouds their judgement because we understand Jonah, Hosea and Nahum, and possibly Elijah, Elisha and Amos, were actually from Galilee.
An early manuscript has ‘the prophet’ instead of ‘a prophet.’ This then would be referring to the prophet like himself Moses said God would raise up (Deuteronomy 18:15). The leaders and Pharisees would then have been saying, ‘There is no evidence ‘the Prophet’ would come from Galilee. This is only partly true because Moses did not know where ‘the Prophet’ would come from.
Nicodemus stood alone to defend Jesus. Would you have the strength to stand alone for Jesus’ honour? If no one stood with you, would you still speak up? Ask God to put that kind of strength in you.
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