Something about the man from Nazareth

Over and over again, John tells us that the authorities wanted to arrest Jesus. In John 7: 37-52, the Temple guard come to arrest Jesus but “no one laid hands on him.” The guard who came to arrest Him found they could not, so astounded were they with his teaching. The Temple authorities continued to scoff, they had already made up their minds (sound familiar anyone?), and goaded anyone who even expressed any sympathy for Jesus’ message. But those who opened their hearts to Jesus, even a little, even amidst their fear, began to see that there was something to this man from Nazareth. “Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 'Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’” (John 7: 50-51). When we crack open our hearts to the mystery of Jesus and His profound message of love and truth, something begins to come over us. We may not understand it, and we may not have defined it, but it is there and cannot be denied. Jesus had promised Nicodemus (see John 3), a member of the Sanhedrin, that the Holy Spirit would come but he (or we) wouldn’t be able to

control it, understand it, or hope to pin it down. But when the Spirit descends upon us, Jesus’ great presence of hope and love, we will be overwhelmed by it. Have you been overwhelmed by Christ lately?