16 - Decisions of the Heart

A startling reality confronts us in this passage. We see two wildly different responses to the same event. On the one hand, there are hundreds, possibly over a thousand people, who repent and believe, and on the other hand, there is a much smaller group who seem to feel no inclination whatsoever to repent and believe, but instead actively work to find a way to stop others from doing so. Both groups saw the same miracle and heard the same message. Why, then, were there such different reactions? If they had only heard the preaching of a message, we might explain it by saying they doubted because they had no way of testing it. But it wasn’t just a message, it was a message confirmed by an absolutely stunning miracle, that not even those in the small group could deny. You would think that anyone confronted by such an amazing display of power would be forced to listen with an open mind. But the smaller group of people doesn’t seem affected by the miracle at all. They’re alarmed, they see the situation as a crisis needing damage control, but there’s no trace of self-doubt. So this passage provides a case-study on the inner workings of the human heart. It makes us look deep inside and ask why do some people say “yes” to God while others refuse to even see or hear His call.