“Writing people off”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Thursday, December 29, 2022

John 7:37-52 (Forward, p. 61) CEV p. 1110

It is so very easy to dismiss people as being unworthy of our attention or interest, to ‘write them off’ as it were. It may have to do with their dress, their manner of speech or conduct, their country of origin, their religion or political beliefs, and a whole manner of other things. For instance, I find myself ‘writing people off’—especially with telemarketers or call centre people—if I have trouble understanding them because of their accent. And, I find myself dismissing or avoiding people who are ardent Satanists or anarchists or conspiracy theorists. I find myself choosing not to have anything to do with them rather than having to debate their particular beliefs.

In today’s passage from John we find some similar instances of people being ‘written off.’ There were people in the crowds who were prepared to write Jesus off and to take sides, simply because they believed Him to be from Galilee and not from Bethlehem where the Messiah was ‘supposed’ to be born. (Little did they know ‘the rest of the story’, namely that Jesus had only been brought up in Galilee but born in Bethlehem. This just goes to show how a little misinformation or a lack of a full and complete grasp of the subject can contribute to a wrong decision!)

And then there were the chief priests and the Pharisees were prepared to ‘write off’ a whole group of people, the common people, as not knowing God’s Law and therefore being under God’s curse. What ill-founded sense of superiority, an instance of unfettered arrogance, on their part, to assume that they naturally knew better.

And finally, there was this self-same group who were willing to write off one of their own number, one of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, and slander him as a Galilean, simply because he believed that Jesus should be given a fair chance, a proper hearing, before being judged.

Sadly, I find the same kind of attitudes and behaviours prevalent in the church, in politics and in academia from time to time. People are ‘written off’, not given a chance to speak or to be heard, because their views are considered unacceptable for some reason or another, or because they don’t follow ‘the party line’ or the generally accepted politically correct way of thinking. This is especially true with matters of race, gendre, colour or religion. And yet, this is most sad, as it not only eliminates another voice, a needed voice, from the public discourse but also dehumanizes, minimalizes the worth of the person making that contribution, which is exactly what God doesn’t want us to do. Indeed, God, in Christ Jesus, considered all persons, every person, as worthy of His love and attention. Amen.

Forward notes: “So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him” (verses 43-44).

“In this passage from the Gospel of John, we see the people of Jerusalem at odds with one another about the true nature of Jesus. Is he prophet or messiah? Or a nobody from Galilee masquerading as the one to come?

“These folks know scripture, which foretells that the messiah is to come from David’s hometown of Bethlehem. Believing that Jesus is from Jerusalem [from Galilee, actually] gives doubters a justification by scripture to reject Jesus as an itinerant imposter.

“People have always used scripture to defend their particular causes, even when the cause is biased, judgmental, and unwelcoming. Quoting scripture to defend a cause often means dialogue is over.

“That’s why it is vital for us to study scripture together and talk with one another. We must adjust the reading glasses of our hearts, so scripture is a tool for inclusion and hope, not a weapon to wound.”

MOVING FORWARD: “If you’re not already in a Bible study group, look for one to join this week.”

A concluding note: Actually, their mistake in quoting the Scriptures has nothing to do with the Scriptures themselves, but with a lack of knowledge of the whole picture, the whole story of Jesus’ birth and upbringing.