Who Would Want to Kill Jesus Now?

John 7:25-32, CEB

Some people from Jerusalem said, “Isn’t he the one they want to kill?  Here he is, speaking in public, yet they aren’t saying anything to him. Could it be that our leaders actually think he is the Christ?  We know where he is from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he exclaimed, “You know me and where I am from. I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him.  I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”  So they wanted to seize Jesus, but they couldn’t because his time hadn’t yet come.

Many from that crowd believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man does?” The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Jesus, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.

                In this passage, we encounter the problems created by what theologians call the “scandal of particularity.”  To try and explain this, let’s use a made-up situation.  A crowd has gathered to hear a much anticipated but mysterious motivational speaker at the civic auditorium.  The speaker delights the crowd with insight they cannot believe.  Conversations are buzzing.  The wisdom being given seems supernatural.  It has to be divinely inspired is the sentiment.  The guy performs miracles everywhere he goes.  Could it be that this is the second coming of Christ?!

But prominent pastors protest that assessment.  “But wait!  We know this guy is not divine.  He’s a plumber’s son from McRae, GA.  How can the second coming of Jesus come from Georgia? The bible says He will return on “the clouds of Glory!  We have to stop this guy.  He is misleading EVERYONE!”  The pastors secretly plan to discredit him. 

The idea that the second coming of Christ could originate in a small town tends to clash with the visions people carry in their heads about what that event will be like.  It goes against a more mysterious and esoteric, if not ambiguous, picture of what will happen when Jesus returns. 

Such was the case with the “First” coming of Christ as well.  The fact that people knew Jesus was from Nazareth and had a human father and mother was “scandalous” to many, particularly the religious leaders of the day.  The very specific details known about the person of Jesus disqualified Him as a candidate for God’s son.  The scandal of particularity is that God can show up however and through whomever God chooses.  Jesus can be directly from God AND the womb of Mary at the same time. 

The religious leaders of Jesus day were not having it.  They would put a stop to this nonsense even if they have to kill Jesus.  I suspect something similar will happen when the very particular details of Jesus’ return are revealed someday.  Because of this, I, as a pastor, try not to dismiss possibilities too quickly just because they don’t fit my preconceived notions.  I do not wish to be in the same category as the leaders that were contemporaries of Jesus. 

Questions:  What about you?  Have you ever discounted events or even people because they did not fit your notions about what, how, and with whom God works?

Prayer:  Reveal Yourself to us. Show us what You are doing in our midst in ways that dispel our disbelief and pre-conceived notions. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for high-profile Christian leaders and influencers you are aware of today (whether you like or agree with them or not).

Song:  Doubting Thomas – Nickel Creek