On Book-Smarts and Knowing Jesus, a devotional thought

There's this almost throw-away line in John 7:49  that sometimes gives me pause. The scribes and Pharisees have sent some servants to arrest Jesus, but the servants don't do it because they are impressed with his teaching.  “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” is what they say (v.46). When the Pharisees hear this, and then learn that the crowd of onlookers was also impressed with Jesus, they are exasperated. But the reason the text gives for their exasperation is interesting: “None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him,” they say, “but this mob, which knows nothing of the law, has.”

In other words, they chalk up the crowd’s belief in Jesus to a lack of learning, and credit their own ability “not to be taken in” to their superior education. The same thing happened earlier, when they criticized Jesus because he'd had no formal education (7:15). They take such pride in their Bible knowledge that it has actually blinded them from seeing Jesus for who he is.

Now don’t get me wrong: I place a high value on education. Life-long learning and deep study of the Scriptures are both a vital part of the Christian life, and this is certainly not meant to undermine those things. But still: it strikes me as curious that these Pharisees are missing out on the good thing that God is doing through Jesus, because they place so much stock in their biblical education that they can't recognize it; whereas the uneducated “mobs” are receiving it, for all their lack of book-smarts.

There’s an irony there. And also a warning, I think, for guys like me who love to climb high and go deep when it comes to hitting the books. It is possible for study—even study of the Scriptures—to move us away from God and not towards him. It's almost certain will do so, if it’s being pursued for selfish reasons, for personal aggrandizement, or any other reason than simply the glory of God and the edification of God’s people. And unless we hold it with an open hand and a humble heart, it’s just possible that a lot of book-smarts might make us, too, miss out on the good things God’s doing in Jesus Christ.