John 7:40-43 – Divided opinions concerning Christ

There were three opinions concerning who Jesus was. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses told the people of Israel that “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” Some on hearing the words of Jesus concluded that He was that prophet whom Moses spoke about. Evidently, there were those who were looking for the emergence of that prophet. They came to the conclusion that He was the prophet because of the words He spoke. Then some among them who were attending the feast rightly concluded that He was the anticipated Messiah. But their voice were quickly put out by yet another group that expressed doubt that He could be the Messiah, because Jesus hailed from Galilee.

This third group of people could cite facts from the Scripture. It showed that the Messiah would come from the descendant of David. He would be born in Bethlehem, a city which David had lived in his early days. The fact that they could cite these facts from Scripture spontaneously, shows that there were strong Messianic expectation among the people.  The divergent views the people had concerning Jesus had led to division among them. Some among them harbored intention to seize Him but no one laid a hand on Him. The reason had already been given earlier - His hour had not yet come.  Hence no arrest took place.

Thinking about division, we must refer to Matthew 10:34–35 where Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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.” This was again echoed in Luke 12:51–52, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.”

Isn’t it true that the very mention of Christ often brings division to life? It divides between those who believe in Him and those who won’t. And those who sincerely believe in Christ always find people opposing them when they speak about Him. Why? When we subscribe to what Christ had said and sincerely want to live for Him, we find our life being re-directed. We find our love for things changed because our value of things has also changed. This brings a clash between the sincere believer and those with hedonistic passion. Regardless of division or antagonism, we sincere believers of Christ must stand firm in our witness. How we behave and conduct our life are strong determining factors for people to ultimately accept Christ as Lord too. Let us live to glorify Him!