one laid hands on him. The officers of the temple went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like
this man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge
of the law!” Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do
you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.” And they all went home.
Reflection:
Between a Master and a disciple, a book can be an
obstacle. When Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, an ordinary
farmer in an obscure Austrian village refused to take oath of
allegiance to Hitler or serve in his army during the World
War II, he was arrested, tried, and condemned to death for
sedition. A few days before he was guillotined, the prison
chaplain visited him and offered the New Testament to him. But
Franz politely refused the Bible saying, “I am completely bound
in inner union with the Lord, and any reading would only
interrupt my communication with my God.” The Temple
officials of Jesus’ time missed the Messiah because they had their
heads buried in the Scriptures and knew them too well to
recognize the Messiah when he walked among them in person.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022