Devotional John 7: Unbelief and Division Over Jesus Discover in John 7 why it is so difficult to be valued in one's own homeland, the prejudices surrounding Jesus' origin, and how truth demands a decision. Topics: Devotional, New Testament.

Devotional John 7: Unbelief and Division Over Jesus

Well, my second devotional for today is found in the book of John, chapter 7, and it addresses the unbelief regarding Jesus and the division among the people.

It all begins with the unbelief of Jesus’ own brothers who did not yet believe in Him. All of this brings up a topic I had already read about in other gospels: the lack of acceptance and admiration one experiences in one’s own hometown. Jesus mentioned in other gospels that He is received well and with great devotion abroad. But in His own hometown, no one pays attention to Him or believes in Him as the Christ, the King of the Jews. All because they know His background (i.e., who His parents are, where He was born and raised). But this reveals a harsh reality of our world: you will always face more rejection and contempt in your hometown than away from it. Jesus said the following about this: “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’” (Mark 6:4 NIV)

Furthermore, the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was the Christ of God, and because they envied His ability to mobilize people and perform miracles, it only intensified their desire to kill Him. They were so blind that when Nicodemus tried to be fair and convince them that they should at least hear Jesus out before condemning Him, they told him they did not believe a prophet could arise from Galilee: “They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.’” (John 7:52 NIV)

All of this caused division among the people because some believed while others did not. Those who believed did so because of the signs He performed, His wisdom, and His miracles. But those who did not believe had various reasons, one of which was His origin. For them, according to the Scriptures, the Messiah had to come from the house of David (i.e., Bethlehem, Judea). And since they did not know that Jesus was truly born in Bethlehem and that His family had moved to Nazareth in Galilee when fleeing King Herod’s forces, they doubted Him. Yet all of this had to happen so that Jesus and God would be glorified, just as Jesus explicitly states in many verses.

Matthew 10:35-36: “For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (NIV)