John 7:13 & 24 –
<13>But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
<24>Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.
This chapter is spent contrasting the Jewish leaders wanting to kill Jesus and the people who believe in Him.
Through this Jesus is coming forward to earn the peoples trust at the same time the leaders are trying to have Him arrested and killed. You notice this is very early in His ministry also, which I find interesting since he “pissed” people off right from the start. But wouldn’t that happen if He came today also? The “status quo” would be challenged and many would reject Jesus because He is not as the “church” thinks He should be.
Now I isolated these two scriptures both on conviction. Verse 13 notes that no one spoke favorably of Jesus out of fear. In this chapter the only one who did speak up was Nicodemus, and he was quickly silenced. How many times do we remain silent with friends? How many times do we live knowing what is being said is wrong and just sit quietly along. Remember I picked these not because I am righteous, but have failed more than once to proclaim the name of Jesus and God out of cowardness. Never was I in fear of arrest or retribution, just concerned that my friends would laugh at me.
Now the other verse pokes at speaking and judging without full knowledge of scriptures or the situation. Also this points out one of my “pet peeves” of hypocrisy. How many times have you gotten on your “high horse” and condemned people for something that you were doing without notice? Here Jesus was pointing out that He was being judged for healing on the Sabbath while these same people were circumcising on the Sabbath. How many times have you complained about a speck of dust in someone’s eye without removing the plank in your eye? I can’t count the number of times I have been guilty of judging others. Hypocrisy bothers me so much I get ultra-sensitive to me and others doing it. The key is we need to be discerning and know truth, but at the same time don’t be quick to judge or you may miss something huge.
Now both of these scripture tie in together because they are pointing out the struggle inside of each of us. One is fear of rejection while the other is ignoring our own rejection. We all tend jump into things without thinking, either by doing something wrong without thinking or not doing something we should out of fear. This is where we need to know truth and be able to discern the Holy Spirit and its prompts. Truth helps us discern between what is right and what is our brain finding a way out. The key is don’t be quiet when you need to speak out, but at the same time don’t be a hypocrite! (now many times we have to use our failures to highlight things to others, just don’t be haughty)