Oh? Says who?
Of all the
foolish remarks made by the priests and the Pharisees, this may be the worst.
Ordinary, common people look to “scholars” for authoritative, knowledgeable
answers to questions. But this was the Pharisees’ response when the temple
guards failed to arrest Jesus. They claimed that He couldn’t be a prophet
because He was from Galilee, and they even claimed Scripture as proof. [1]
Going back in
time a little bit, there had been discussion among the people on the feast day,
as to whether Jesus could be “the Prophet” or “the Messiah”. At first, they too
thought the Prophet or the Messiah couldn’t come from Galilee—he had to be from
Bethlehem[2].
And what
about Nathanael? About to be introduced to Jesus, even he had doubts: —
“Nazareth! Can any good thing come from there?”[3]
But all of
this wasn’t true—Jonah was a prophet—and he was from Galilee. In fact, he was
from Gath Hepher, only 5 kilometers north of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.[4]
And at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds seem to have figured
it out: He was “the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee”.[5]
Nathanael too, realized his error very quickly: “You are the Son of God; you
are the king of Israel.”[6]
And that
wasn’t all—Isaiah had prophesied that those living in the land of Zebulun and
Naphtali (specifically “Galilee of the nations”) would have a great light dawn
on them. This is the wonderful prophecy of “a child born…a son given” who is
“Mighty God”.[7]
Going back to
those priests and Pharisees—did they really not know this prophecy? Or did they
lie? They shut down Nicodemus too, by suggesting that he too might be from
Galilee![8]
Did he not know the prophecy? Did he protest?
This whole
incident could have been righted with a few quick references to Scripture. But
the political elite pulled their strings and a "Good Man" went down![9]
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