21 Days of Prayer; a Devotion on Johnਨਮੂਨਾ

John 7 | “He is a good man” – “no he deceives many” –

You cannot encounter Jesus without being confronted by two questions, “who is he?” and “how do I respond to him?” Today in John7 we see some are amazed by his authoritative teaching and some believe because of his signs and wonders; some call him a prophet, some the Messiah (God’s anointed king). Yet still others protest, how can he be the Messiah, he comes from Galilee - and ignorance and prejudice lead to rejection and offence, “he is demon-possessed” and they seek to arrest him. CS Lewis distilled the logical responses, as seen in our reading, to three possibilities: Jesus is deceived, Jesus is demonic, Jesus is divine. Deceived, because he genuinely thinks he is God, but a mere mortal. Demonic, because he seeks to deceive others and control them, or Divine, he really is God with us. But how do we decide? Nicodemus, the scholar and leader who came to Jesus in the night with questions, offers wise advice: first, hear what he has to say, then secondly, see what he does, and only then make your decision. And having asked the question “who is he?” and followed the evidence, “what did Jesus say? What did Jesus do?” then we can, and we must make the conclusion: “who is he", and a decision: “how will I respond?”