Not Like Anyone Before

“So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not bring him?’

The guards answered,

 ‘Never before has anyone spoken like this man.’” 

John 7:45-46

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, “Wow, I’ve never met anyone like that before.” I think in our lives we might encounter a couple of those people who come and go, but who really make a huge impact in either our own lives or on the lives of people we know. There’s just something about them. Maybe it was their genuineness. Something special.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees hoped that the guards would have brought Jesus to them for questioning, they were surprised because Jesus did not come back with them. The guard simply answered them, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” They were captivated by the Lord. Something about this Jesus caught their attention. Something new. Something different. Something that tugged at their hearts.

The difference between the guards and the chief priests and the Pharisees is that the guards had an open heart, a heart that was not hardened by pride and self-righteousness. They allowed God to work in their hearts. They recognized that Jesus was someone special, so much so that they forgot why they were sent there in the first place! They did not just go find Jesus, they encountered Him. And an encounter always leads to transformation. There may be many people that may come and go in our lives that may captivate our attention and make us feel something special inside, but there is only one person who can move our hearts to such a drastic transformation — Communion with God, and that person is Jesus Christ. May we allow our hearts to be open so that we may come to encounter the Living God who call us to Himself — Him who is like no other.