Who Is Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHO IS JESUS

John 7:40-53

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "He is the Christ." Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" 46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. 47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law — there is a curse on them." 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" 52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee." 53 [The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.]Then each went to his own home.

NIV

It seems everyone has their own opinion of who Jesus is, and it also seems none of them know he was born in Bethlehem as they are of the opinion he came from Nazareth in Galilee. This is the home town of Joseph and Mary but as Luke records that because of the census Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem because he was from the house of David. We all know this, but it is apparent none of them did and thus the confusion. It is not clear why Jesus did not tell them he was in fact born in Bethlehem, perhaps he wanted men to see him for who he was rather than because of the Law. In either case the people, except of course the Pharisees were conflicted about who Jesus was. It might well have been the Pharisees knew exactly who Jesus was, they may well have known he was the one sent from God, but that would surely disrupt their authority over the Law and thus the people. Their comment about the Temple guards might be the clue to their knowledge of Jesus. Although they were accusing the temple guards of being deceived by Jesus we have to be on guard not to be deceived by those like the Pharisees. We know who Jesus is, we know he is the Son of God, the one sent from heaven to redeem us. We cannot allow ourselves to be deceived by so many different opinions about Jesus. The proof of all these differences is squarely within all the denominational arguments over the minutia of what they believe the scripture says. We can get so catch up in this argument we could forget just who Jesus is. Sure, everyone would say Jesus is Jesus, the Son of God, But then the opinions start to shape up to hundreds of different denominations. Someone is being deceived, and then to make it worse, each denomination has to define a set of doctrines, rules and regulations based on their opinion. We are right, you are wrong and that is that. How could we all allow ourselves to be so deceived by so many? The scripture is plain enough for all to see the truth. Jesus is the only way to gain eternal life. Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is God. Jesus came from heaven to die on the cross to pay the price for our sin. He rose from the grave, and ascended back to heaven. What more is there? What more do we need to know about Jesus? Why should we even care about all those opinions? We must ensure we are not deceived by any Pharisee like people. Jesus is all we need.