Division

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

DIVISION

John 7:37-44

37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."  39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 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.

NIV

There are still two truths that lie within these verses. First the truth about the Spirit, the second is about the division Jesus caused among the people. Having looked at the Spirit, we now turn our attention to the division. It would seem everyone, or at least the doubters, knew Jesus was raised in Nazareth in Galilee. This was the home of Joseph and Mary. It is the town Joseph had his business and where Jesus as a youth and young man learned the trade of carpentry. But what happened to all the witnesses of the shepherds the night Jesus was born in Bethlehem? We, of course, have that recorded for us, but how did that slip by the people? Did they not know that Joseph and Mary made the trip into Egypt to hide Jesus from Herod? Did they not put two and two together and realize Jesus was the one born in Bethlehem those years ago? It would seem people only see what they want to see. Why bother investigating the truth, let’s just take someone else’s word about where he was born. Still, some did believe Jesus was a prophet. That is interesting since the Jews had not had a prophet for some four hundred years, but they were willing to accept Jesus came as a prophet. They knew their ancient history, but not the truth about Jesus. There were others who did see Jesus as the Christ and they certainly voiced their belief but were shot down with false truths. There was division then and there still is today. Why does Jesus cause this kind of division? He told us that we think he came to bring peace, but he said:

Matt 10:34-36

34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'  

NIV

There will always be division about who Jesus is. We believers will argue that Jesus is the Christ, while non-believers will find any reason, no matter if it is correct or not to refute the truth about Jesus. It is also true that Jesus says they do not believe because they like the darkness because it hides their sin. We want the whole world to know Jesus is the Christ, but the fact is, it is not going to happen, no matter how much we want it, or for that matter, how much God wants it. Because he gave man the freedom to choose, there will always continue to be division. We just have to learn to accept that fact not all people will believe, some will refuse and thus condemn themselves. Although God knows who will and who will not believe, we do not and so we are still under the command to go into all the world and preach the good news. We still need to let the Spirit flow and his spring of living water flow from within us and let the division fall where it may.