God Leads Us One Step at a Time
The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?..." Nicodemus...said to them, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee too?" John 7:45-52, RSV.
Jesus' world continued to crumble as He entered into what seemed to be an endless round of confrontations with the Jewish authorities. He knew what was happening, yet did not back down in the face of encroaching pressure, speaking openly in the Temple and challenging the nation's religious leadership.
The problem got to be so obvious that the common people began to discuss why the leaders weren't taking action against Him. "Can it be," they asked, "that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?" (John 7:27, RSV).
That was too much. It was the last straw. The leadership sent a delegation to arrest Jesus and put an end to the trouble. But that too backfired. Amazed by Jesus, those very officers of the law returned empty-handed, claiming that they had never heard anything like His words.
That event could have provided the religious authorities with a wake-up call. But all they could reply was that it was only ignorant peasants who had believed in Jesus. None of the Sanhedrin or Temple officials or the Pharisees had accepted Him.
It was in that context that one of the rulers of the Sanhedrin did speak up. Nicodemus, who had cautiously come to Jesus at night in John 3, suggested that Jewish law did not judge a person without a hearing. For that he received scorn.
Note that Nicodemus was still cautious. He didn't exactly defend Jesus. Nor did he come out in the open as a follower. But he carefully expressed a few words that indicated that the mysterious wind of the Spirit was operating in his heart and life (see John 3:7, 8).
Nicodemus did not carry his protest any further. Apparently, as one author puts it, his heart told him to defend Jesus but his head told him not to take the risk.
But he had taken another step on a pathway that would lead into full openness when he and Joseph of Arimathea buried the crucified Christ (John 19:38-42).
God had guided him step by step. That is the same way that He is leading you and me.
The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?..." Nicodemus...said to them, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee too?" John 7:45-52, RSV.
Jesus' world continued to crumble as He entered into what seemed to be an endless round of confrontations with the Jewish authorities. He knew what was happening, yet did not back down in the face of encroaching pressure, speaking openly in the Temple and challenging the nation's religious leadership.
The problem got to be so obvious that the common people began to discuss why the leaders weren't taking action against Him. "Can it be," they asked, "that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?" (John 7:27, RSV).
That was too much. It was the last straw. The leadership sent a delegation to arrest Jesus and put an end to the trouble. But that too backfired. Amazed by Jesus, those very officers of the law returned empty-handed, claiming that they had never heard anything like His words.
That event could have provided the religious authorities with a wake-up call. But all they could reply was that it was only ignorant peasants who had believed in Jesus. None of the Sanhedrin or Temple officials or the Pharisees had accepted Him.
It was in that context that one of the rulers of the Sanhedrin did speak up. Nicodemus, who had cautiously come to Jesus at night in John 3, suggested that Jewish law did not judge a person without a hearing. For that he received scorn.
Note that Nicodemus was still cautious. He didn't exactly defend Jesus. Nor did he come out in the open as a follower. But he carefully expressed a few words that indicated that the mysterious wind of the Spirit was operating in his heart and life (see John 3:7, 8).
Nicodemus did not carry his protest any further. Apparently, as one author puts it, his heart told him to defend Jesus but his head told him not to take the risk.
But he had taken another step on a pathway that would lead into full openness when he and Joseph of Arimathea buried the crucified Christ (John 19:38-42).
God had guided him step by step. That is the same way that He is leading you and me.
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