A Lack of Faith

John 7:45-53

My mother was born in San Diego, California at the beginning of U.S. involvement inWorld War II. Her mother passed away shortly after her birth. Her father, an officer in the Navy, received orders for the South Pacific. She was only a few months old when she left California to live in Iowa with a friend of the family.

If you didn't know my mother at that time, and met her as an adult, there would be no reason to believe her place of birth was on the West coast. Her home was in Iowa.

The Pharisees rejected Jesus with the argument that, "...a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

Yes, Jesus grew up in Galilee with His mother and father. Jesus wasn't born in Galilee, though, He was born in Bethlehem. In Luke 2:1-7 we find that Mary and Joseph left Nazareth in Galilee to go to Bethlehem to register in a census. Bethlehem was the town of David, Joseph was from David's line and so they were required to make the trip. While they were in Bethlehem Mary gave birth to Jesus.

The Pharisees were familiar with the passage of Scripture found in Micah 5:2, "But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small amoung the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Or in the King James Version "...whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." They were looking for the Messiah to come from Bethlehem.

In Matthew 2:1-18 we find the account of the Magi searching for Jesus. They came to King Herod in Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?". Herod called the chief priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Christ was to be born. The reply, "In Bethlehem, in Judea..."

The Pharisees refused to believe Jesus was the Messiah because He was from Galilee. What if they would've asked Jesus where He was born? Surely they could have inquired further into Jesus' background if they'd chosen to do so. Instead, they considered anyone who listened to Jesus as deceived; the people were supposed to determine who Jesus was based on the religious leader's beliefs. After all, they knew the law!

I'm not sure why Jesus didn't just call the Pharisees aside and tell them to search the records to see that He had been born in Bethlehem. It may be because believing in Jesus Christ requires faith, not just facts.Or perhaps He knew they still wouldn't believe - they'd witnessed amazing miracles with no change of heart.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."  Hebrews 11:1-3

It takes faith to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. It wasn't Jesus who was deceiving the people - it was thier leaders - who lacked faith.