CONFUSION ABOUT JESUS
John 7:12-13, 40-43 NKJV
12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people." 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ."
But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him.
When we look back at the life of Jesus, we typically look through the lens of a believer. But these verses are examples of the fact that Jesus was not universally accepted in Israel.
There was confusion about Jesus. We look back and think, how could anyone not see that Jesus was God's Son? How could anyone not see that Jesus was nothing but good? But people missed Jesus then. And people miss Him today. The confusion about Jesus concerned was He good or was He a deceiver. In this seventh chapter, we see Jesus' brothers encouraging Him to make Himself more well known. To self-promote. Even His brothers did not believe in Him. This certainly does away with the myth of Jesus having a halo or anything about Him that caused Him to look otherworldly. Jesus did not float. He walked and had to have looked normal. There must not have been a divine glow.
And yet Jesus had done all these miracles. But some were still confused. Some thought Jesus had the wrong motives and was attempting to deceive people. There was confusion about Jesus because He came from Galilee, and the Messiah was to have come from Bethlehem. Some thought He was the Prophet, and some thought He was the Christ, but the hometown issue was a problem. Little did they know that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. But Jesus did not try to explain to anyone where He was born. Jesus said repeatedly, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' To His followers, they had to grasp Jesus with their hearts and pretty much ignore all the other noise around Him.
APPLICATION
Confusion about Jesus still exists today. Some people believe He was a good teacher. Some believe that He was a moral example, but never did anything supernatural and did not rise from the dead. Some believe that Jesus never existed. But some of us believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. That He was the Son of God who gave His life on the cross for the sins of the world. That He died and God raised Him from the dead after He had satisfied the claims of justice. That He is the risen Savior and will come again as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Just as the people of Jesus' day had to push past the noise to believe, we have to do the same thing. We have to push past the people who think they know something about Jesus but don't have the whole story. Those of us who know, know. We know He is good and He is God. We are not confused.
PRAYER
Lord, I thank You for who You are to me. I believe You are good and good to me. And regardless of what others say about You, I know You and worship You for who You are!