John 7:45-49

No truer words did the officers of the Pharisees ever declare when they boldly stated: "No one ever spoke the way this man does." When Jesus speaks, His Words can cut like butter with a hot knife even the stoniest hearts of the unbelieving. Heavenly words from the Heavenly God-Man can silence the roughest rabble as well as save the sinner, strengthen the weak, comfort the mourning, gladden the heart, encourage the downtrodden and on and on. You got a need? Jesus has a Word for it. Indeed, all of Scripture is a “Paraklesis” – an exhortation, an encouragement and a comfort. I am reminded of the words spoken by the two disciples of Jesus after their encounter with Him on the road to Emmaus following our Lord’s resurrection:

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Luke 24:30-32 (NIV)

We also find the following in Scripture regarding the certain given authority in the Words our Lord spoke. It is no wonder then that the prideful hearts of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law rebelled with jealousy over the crowds flocking to and following our Lord rather than them as His Words were powerful and penetrating in contrast to their own.

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Matt 7:28-29 (NIV)

Jesus’ Words are always laden with great value. Scripture tells us:

11 A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Prov 25:11 (NIV)

The Pharisees reaction to the declaration of their guard’s words incited them to childlike anger and behavior. The guards themselves had been privy to the power of our Lord’s Words, tying their hands, so to speak, making them incapable of following through with their orders. In an effort to elevate self and to gain back control and grab respect – all of which, by the way, cannot be done by the one who so longs for it – these leaders of the people first resort to degrading the guards by sarcastically ridiculing them for being deceived by and perhaps even deluded into believing Jesus’ Words. They then arrogantly state that none of the religious elite believed in Him therefore it would stand to their reasoning that He was false, a charlatan – only the pitiful poor and the uneducated could believe such nonsense. He cannot be True if He has the audacity to differ from us!

“They content themselves with the cheap and easy assertion that those who do not agree with themselves are ignorant and know nothing, and that therefore it matters nothing what they think...Can a person be deserving of the least credit, as a teacher of a new religion, if those who are the most learned and highest in position do not believe him?” J. C. Ryle

Not much has changed has it? It is a common argument - charges like these have been made in every era against those who speak for Jesus – their opinion is worthless, they are uneducated and ignorant, their religion is but an opiate for the masses – something to dull their pathetic state. How far from the Truth this is. When the enemies of our Lord cannot stop those from following Him, or quench their enthusiasm, or answer to their teachings they resort to name calling and defamation of their character – always belittling those who differ from them in an effort to elevate themselves. Yet all the while Jesus calls out through the pen of the prophet Isaiah:

22 "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22 (NIV)