No One Ever Spoke Like This Man
April 23, 2023
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
Scripture Reading
John 7:40-52
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Before we begin, I want to mention two things. This will take a few minutes, so bear with me. First, we put in the bulletin that we have a congregational meeting on June 4. At the meeting we’ll vote to affirm two things, a new church treasurer and a new pastor-elder. We hope to see Matt Wilson, a long-time member, begin the deacon role of treasurer, a role that Tom Gwinn has done for a long and very faithful stretch (e.g., transitions of our staff, selling buildings, buying and renovating a building, funding a church plant, and Covid).
Because the new pastor-elder will be a new full-time staff member, I’m guessing you might like me to say just a bit more about that role than a quick sentence. So I will. In light of the church plant, we’ve been planning to hire another associate pastor. We advertised that opening publicly back in January, and for the last several months we’ve been collecting resumes and interviewing candidates. Almost fifty pastors applied.
A few weeks ago, we began narrowing the search to one pastor named Ron Smith. In the coming weeks we’re going to share a lot more about him and his ministry. So you can get to know him, we’ll give you information about him you can read and sermons of his that you can watch and listen to. We’ll give the pastoral search team opportunities to tell you why we think Ron would be a good fit for us why our membership should officially call him here to pastor. But we won’t do all that now.
For now, I’ll just say that we were looking for an associate pastor who could preach well and lead well—lead well at church and among the staff and elders. Someone who could appreciate who we are yet also challenge us to be more. We think Ron will do this. He’s almost fifty years old, he just celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and he has four children, the youngest is heading to college in the fall. He’s from South Carolina, his wife has roots in Philly, but together as a family, he’s spent the last many years as a church planting missionary in northern Italy. Most importantly, he loves Jesus, the local church, and pastoring.
I said I’d share two announcements. Here’s the second. Next week Pastor Ben will be preaching from the beginning of John 8. It’s a famous Bible passage about a woman caught in adultery and Jesus writing on the ground and his words about “those without sin throwing the first stone,” which many people, even those outside the church, are familiar with. Now, I called it a Bible passage, but there is some question about whether it was original to John’s gospel. I didn’t want that to catch you off guard, so I’m telling you now in case you want to get more familiar with the issues before next week. I’ll actually be in Virginia officiating my youngest sister’s wedding, but I have supreme confidence Pastor Ben will navigate those issues well, and the message will be a blessing. I’ll be tuning into the live stream on the way back home.
Let’s turn our attention to John’s gospel, praying as we begin. “Dear Heavenly Father . . .”
We have the expression about getting caught with a hand in a cookie jar. The person caught may have various reasons for doing what he was doing. “Oh, it only looked like I was stealing a cookie. In fact, I was cleaning the jar.” Okay, but where are the cleaning supplies? “Well, had to take the cookies out first, and then I thought I should make sure the cookies were not stale and needing to be replaced, and how could one do that without nibbling a bite to make sure the cookies had not expired? We can’t have others eating bad cookies. I’m the only person who can tell that sort of thing.”
Hmmm. To those watching from the outside, it seems clear that what the person really wanted to do, he was actually doing, and only later making up reasons.
In our passage, there’s no cookie jar. But we do see in this passage that when you choose to suppress the truth, you end up in all sorts of contradictions. But we’ll also see that when you embrace the truth—even when it’s costly—you end up with freedom. I’ll show you what I mean.
1. Suppressing the truth leads to contradictions
For context of John 7, I’ll say that Jesus has traveled to Jerusalem. There’s been confusion about him, even what our passage calls “division” (7:43). In other words, Jesus is not merely polarizing, as though there are only two different, opposing views. Rather, there are divisions—lots of them. That was true then, and it’s true still today. That’s the context. Let me reread the opening of the chapter, vv. 40–44.
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Clearly, again, there is division. People are trying to wrestle with truth and the implications of truth. And there’s this confusion about the origins of Jesus, where he was born. Around Christmas we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” because origins matter. According to many Scripture passages, the Messiah was to come from the city where King David came from (2 Sam 7:12–16, Ps. 89:3–4; Is. 9:7; 55:3), and according to the specific Old Testament prophecy of Micah 5:2, God tells us explicitly that the ruler of Israel will come from none other than Bethlehem.
So, maybe these leaders don’t have their hands in the cookie jar, that is, maybe they’re not doing anything wrong. Maybe they do care about truth, and maybe they want to live their lives in light of God’s Word. “Speak, O Lord,” they could sing. We come “to receive the food of Your Holy Word / Take Your truth, plant it deep in us / Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,” they’d sing (lines from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s song “Speak O Lord”). I mean, they quote the Scripture rightly. The Christ did have to come from Bethlehem. Maybe they would want to know if Jesus were not actually from Galilee, but that Jesus is in fact from the line of King David, indeed he was born in the city the Scriptures say the Messiah would come from. Maybe there’s no hidden agenda.
I’m going to reread the rest of the passage, but before I do, look with me at v. 19, which was covered last week. This is Jesus speaking of these religious leaders. “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” These were experts in the law and Moses, and Jesus says, Do any of you even know the law? It’s like that joke of saying to a really strong guy, Bro, do you even lift? It’s insulting.
It seems like Jesus thinks they don’t actually want to hear about him. It seems like Jesus thinks they don’t have their hands around Scripture because they actually care about Scripture. Look with me at vv. 45–52. Because they suppress the truth, they stumble into all sorts of contradictions.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Their suppressing of the truth would be humorous if it were not so serious. You can hear the disdain for the crowd in their words, even calling them accursed. “They don’t know the law like we do. They are ignorant, common folk, a bunch of hillbilly bumpkins from Galilee.” When a man named Nicodemus tries to bring up a good point, asking them to simply do what their law says they should do—to investigate this more—they scoff at him, suggesting he’s a bumpkin too.
Yet who is ignorant? They were. Or at least they appear that way. I think they are not as innocently ignorant as they seem. You don’t get the sense they want the truth or think they need it. I suspect, rather, that the religious leaders knew the truth and were suppressing the truth. For example, some prophets had come from the region of Galilee. As experts of the law, they would have known that Jonah came from Galilee, as well as perhaps Elijah and Nahum (2 Kings 14:25; 1 Kings 17:1; Nah. 1:1). Additionally, in chapter 8 the leaders mock Jesus’s origins from a virgin birth by saying that at least “we are not born of sexual immorality” (John 8:41). We’re seeing words from the apostle Paul dramatized. Paul would write of those who suppress the truth, saying, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). They claim to be wise, but become fools. And suppressing the truth leads them to contradictions.
Suppressing the truth is still common among religious people. “The Bible is for justice and equality,” some would say. Well, of course it is. But the Bible also determines what justice should looks like and what sexual ethics should look like and who should get married to whom and where life begins and so on. If you affirm part of the Bible but suppress other parts of the Bible, you’ll end up in all sorts of contradictions.
But this cuts religious people both ways. Those who know that the Bible cares about morals and sexual ethics and the value of life, are they guilty of overlooking morals in their leaders if they a leader can help them “win,” however winning is defined. How many pastors and other leaders don’t have the character to lead but remain in leadership roles because they do other things we want?
Suppressing truth in one area always leads to other contradictions. And sometimes those looking from the outside can see the suppression better than we can. Religious people of all kinds often don’t actually want God to speak and shape us and don’t want God to fashion us in his likeness. Rather, we often want the Scriptures to affirm the views we already hold, and we find verses to do so, just as these religious leaders did.
2. Embracing truth leads to freedom
But thankfully there’s more to this passage than the suppression of truth. We also see that embracing truth leads to freedom. Look with me at vv. 47–48.
47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?”
They claim that no one among them believes in Jesus. No one could be so dumb, so ignorant, so accursed. Look, then, at how this man Nicodemus is introduced.
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
Did you see the phrase “who was one of them”? “Have you also been deceived?” they say to the officers. “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” Implying, “Of course not.”
They were wrong. John introduced Nicodemus to us back in chapter 3. Here’s how he’s introduced: “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1). Not only was Nicodemus a Pharisee, but he was also part of the special Sanhedrin, the inner circle. We’d say he was a board member, that he made decisions. And as soon as their leader hints that there might be more to Jesus, they turn on him.
That must have hurt. Maybe you know that kind of venom. You speak up for Jesus, even just a little bit, and you get shouted down. “We don’t say that around here,” they tell you. “That doesn’t belong here.” So, you speak up and say kindly, “Don’t we say at our workplace that we stand for inclusion and diversity? So, I’m wondering if we can include evangelical Christians here. Shouldn’t we include them too?”
That might get you somewhere. Nicodemus tried that approach; it didn’t work for him.
Back in chapter 3 he comes to Jesus at night. Maybe he came at night because Jesus was busy, and that’s the only time he could get close. Maybe he goes at night because he doesn’t want others to see him. Regardless, what follows is a lengthy conversation with Jesus about what it means to follow God, on being changed on the inside, about what Jesus calls being born again. Nicodemus doesn’t come off well in that conversation. Jesus says, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” The implied answer is that if he is so wise, he should know better. But he doesn’t. It’s a rebuke. I’m sure it stung to be insulted by an unschooled carpenter Rabbi. But sometimes Jesus must insult your pride before you can love him.
But that long conversation doesn’t have the same feel as the other long conversations that Jesus has with the religious leaders. In those conversations, like the one that begins in chapter 8, the religious leaders are about gamesmanship and wordplay and scorn. With Nicodemus, although he seems unaware of truth, the conversation seems genuine, like Nicodemus might actually be embracing truth and becoming freer and freer.
And it looks that way because he is. The next time readers meet Nicodemus—here in chapter 7, some eighteen months later—he’s challenging his peers, calling them to embrace the Scriptures they say they believe, calling them to be people of the Word. If at first he tries to meet Jesus at night, then later he’s nudging people toward Jesus in the daylight. Some of you are on this same journey—secretly learning about Jesus and now you’re starting to tell people about his, and it’s scary.
We’ll meet Nicodemus one more time in John’s gospel. You can turn there if you want, or you can just listen. I’m going to read John 19:38–40. This is right after the crucifixion.
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
When Jesus died, all the disciples have fled. Peter, the loudest leader, denied even knowing Jesus. And here are these men, one called Joseph and another called Nicodemus, and together they bury Jesus, giving him the honor he deserves, willing to identify with Jesus no matter the cost. In short, embracing truth has set them free.
Sometimes the grace of God works fast, and people are changed in a moment. One day every Christian will be fully and finally changed in a moment when Christ returns. But sometimes the grace of God works slowly. With Nicodemus, grace worked slowly but effectively. The Word of God penetrated his heart. He was, in fact, being born again. And that changed him—just as God has changed us, is changing us, and will change us.
Conclusion
As we close and prepare to take the Lord’s supper together, I’d be mistaken if we missed something extraordinary about Jesus from this passage. Throughout chapter 7, we hear Jesus discussing his “hour” or his “time,” that is, the time he’s going to die. For example, consider this v. 30: “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” Implied in Jesus’s words about his time and his hour, we hear divine intervention.
Imagine all the ways that God the Father and the Holy Spirit might have intervened to stop the arrest. So many ways God could have intervened. Divine intervention didn’t involve a supernatural forcefield to project Jesus. He didn’t fight his way out of the arrest. Jesus didn’t have a special shield made of vibranium metal. How does Jesus avoid being arrested? But what reason do the officers give for not arresting Jesus? Look at v. 46. “No one ever spoke like this man!” they say. The-Word-Made-Flesh spoke. And they were so stunned, they failed to do their one job. When was the last time you were amazed by God’s Word? Has it been too long? Let these from vv. 37–38 amaze you.
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
At a feast that culminates with ceremonial water, Jesus cries out, saying, If you’re really thirsty, you come to me.
Are you thirsty? Have you found yourself tired of suppressing the truth, tired of a double life, tired of finding yourself in so many contradictions? If so, you’re in a good place. This morning, Jesus is inviting you to embrace truth and become free.
Churches have different understandings of who should participate in communion. We believe communion is open it anyone thirsty for living water and for anyone who has found that water in Jesus, that is, anyone who has had their sins forgiven by Jesus, and anyone who hears his voice and loves what they hear. This morning if you don’t feel comfortable taking communion, that’s okay. You’re more than welcome to stay in your seats and just think and pray. Maybe like Nicodemus you need time.
As you come forward, those serving communion will drop a piece of bread in your hand and you can grab a cup. If you’re not able to come forward and want me to bring communion to you, just flag me down. The worship team is going to play a song, and the rest of us, when you’re ready, may come forward. Hang onto the elements until we have all been served, so we can participate together.
I’ll invite the music team forward so we can have a time of response through singing. Let’s pray. “Dear Heavenly Father. . .”
Sermon Discussion Questions
The religious leaders “got caught,” but they are not willing to admit it yet. Have you ever been caught doing something wrong, but you weren’t ready to admit it yet? Why can it be so hard to embrace truth? Could it be because we also have to say we were wrong and that can be really hard to do?
How might we as a church be guilty of saying we want to hear from God but in reality, we only want our opinions affirmed?
When was the last time you were amazed at God’s Word? If it has been too long, what might you do about it? How might others around you help?
Back in John 7:37, Jesus uses the phrase “if anyone thirsts . . .” How is that encouraging? (For contrast, what if he had said, “If any one thirsts, let him show he really wants the water bad enough by working to earn it, then I will give it to him”?)
