the Blindness of Prejudice
These short descriptions of the impressions made on His hearers by the discourses of Jesus indicate the double development which was resulting from His ministry. Those in favor spoke of the Prophet and the Christ. Compare John 1:21; John 6:14. Others raised objections, John 7:41-42. Others again desired to take action, John 7:44.
Though it was a holy day, the Sanhedrin was in session to receive the report of their officers. These, by their candid statement, unconsciously passed a strange criticism on the religious speakers to whom they were wont to listen. Compare John 7:48 with John 7:50 and John 3:1-36.
How greatly Nicodemus had grown since his night-visit to Jesus! And he was to advance still further, John 19:39. The appeal to history was apparently true. Jonah is the only prophet who might have been quoted as an apparent exception, but he may only have been a resident in Galilee when the summons came to him. The reasoning of John 7:52, however, was not conclusive. Even if none had arisen, it was the more likely that the Divine Spirit should choose the most humble origin; and the one most in keeping with the peasant-birth of the manger-bed.