Houston traffic does no favors for my soul. A couple weeks ago, as we were on the road, my wife Rebecca told me I should take a certain exit. In my great wisdom I decided to ignore her and take the next one. Suddenly we’re stuck behind a wreck and the traffic lights are taking forever and we’ve lost fifteen minutes, and I’m mad at every other driver and trying to justify my anger and somehow it’s all her fault, and I just won’t admit that she was right. That was a tough apology to make when we got home. And unfortunately that wasn’t even the first time.
That’s how irrational closed minds have to get in order to save themselves from what they think is humiliation. The Pharisees didn’t believe in Jesus’ teachings, but not because they had good reason; they never even gave the idea any consideration! Just in this brief passage, they showed three things that closed minds often do when pressured by the truth. First, they ignored logic. Even though all of their pride was in being experts of the Law, they blatantly refused the idea of giving Jesus a legal trial. Suddenly the law didn’t benefit them. John makes sure we catch that irony.
Second, they abused Scripture. Of course Jesus can’t be a real prophet, they said; Scripture *clearly* tells us that no prophet comes from Galilee! That’s just false. The prophet Jonah was from Galilee. But the Pharisees didn’t care; they only wanted Scripture to affirm the views they already held. And third, they went on attack mode. They decided that any common person who believed Jesus must have been cursed and stupid, and as if that wasn’t enough, they accused Nicodemus—a fellow expert!—of being the same. Because obviously anyone who disagrees with me knows nothing.
But there was a reason the guards couldn’t bring themselves to arrest Jesus, and though the other Pharisees didn’t give that any thought, Nicodemus did. Nicodemus showed true humility. He wanted the real truth, whatever it may be, more than he wanted self-preservation. And so he thought logically, biblically, and considerately.
Just like Nicodemus, be wary of fighting for your own truth. None of us have it all figured out, so don’t close your mind off from things the Lord still has to teach you. You’ll know that’s happening if you catch yourself ignoring logic, abusing Scripture, or going on offense like the Pharisees did! Instead, pursue the truth and be willing to grow in it, even if that means admitting you were wrong before. The good news of Jesus Christ is worth a little growing pain.
