Some in the crowd who heard these words said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” 41 But others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he? 42 Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this one.” 47 So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, 51 “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” 52 They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
The Jews were hostile towards Jesus and kept trying to find out his identity in order to prove he was not the Messiah who, as foretold in the OT, was to come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:1). In v. 40, some in the crowd said he was a prophet and others say he is the Christ, the Messiah. Some said he could not be the Messiah from the line of David because his parents were from Nazareth in Galilee (Lk. 1:26-27) and some wanted to arrest him but again no one laid a hand on him (v. 44; Jn. 7:30).
The unusual words that Jesus spoke disarmed the guards who went to arrest him and they returned empty-handed to the chief priests and Pharisees. The Jewish leaders were united in their rejection of Jesus (v. 48). From their perspective, they followed the Law of Moses but Jesus had deceived the guards and the crowd did not know the Law and were therefore ‘cursed.’ Jesus was leading the people astray and should be arrested. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, told the Pharisees that they were acting contrary to the Law by condemning Jesus without a hearing (Dt. 1:16-17). The Pharisees then accused Nicodemus of being a Galilean (stupid) and ignorant of the Law just like the crowd because Scripture says that no prophet can come from Galilee. However, Isaiah prophesied, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who lived in a land of gloom a light has shone (Is. 9:1; Mt. 4:15-16).” The people who sat in darkness lived in a non-Jewish district in Western Galilee.
Almighty God, help us to walk in the light of Christ so that our minds may be renewed and we may discern your will. Look not on our failings but on the love we hold in our hearts as we try to bear fruit that will last for your kingdom. May your blessings be showered upon us in abundance through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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