John 7:45-52
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have 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 a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been 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.” [1]
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Why do some people get so hostile regarding Christianity? I was thinking about that the other day while listening to the Mission India rep from India talk about the persecution that he has personally experienced. For instance, his first day in ministry, doing door to door evangelism one week after becoming a Christian, ended with him beaten and naked in a ditch.
We don’t live with the fear of physical persecution in this country, but still sometimes Christians run into very vehement reactions and hostility when sharing Christ. It seems to me sometimes that the level of hostility is way out of proportion. Granted, some Christians are very obnoxious and offensive in their sharing. But even still in many parts of our culture today, it appears to be open season on hostility toward Christianity. And of course in many places of the world, full blown persecution is raging.
In this passage we see the Pharisees and chief priests becoming very hostile, to the point of insulting those who follow Jesus. (Did you catch the irony in their vehement claim that none of the rulers or Pharisees believe in Him? The next person to speak up is one of the Pharisees who is in the process of coming to faith.)
This section just focuses on the Pharisees and the chief priests. Jesus doesn’t even appear in these verses. And so that leads me to think about the persecutors. And what comes to mind are Jesus words from Matthew 5:44 calling His followers to pray for their enemies and persecutors. That seems so counter-intuitive and of course quite difficult from a human perspective. But this is what Christ would have us do. And of course this is what Jesus did, praying for the forgiveness of His persecutors while dying on the cross.
So my prayer today is twofold, that God would work in me a desire to pray for those who are hostile to Christianity and the gospel. And then of course my prayer is for them. I’m praying today for those that I know that are hostile to the gospel, and I’m praying for those engaged in persecution around the world, that God would soften their hearts, bring them to repentance, and bless them.
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 7:45–52). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
