Do not judge by appearances

In John 7, the identity of Jesus is the focus of conflicts. Jesus warned against judgment by appearances.
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment (John 7:24).
How often we judge by appearances!
God sent Jesus to bring us salvation. He worked miracles to heal, to restore the well being of the sick. Many believed in him. Yet, there have been many more who could not fit Jesus into their preconceived mind-set.
Firstly, the Jews knew that Jesus came from Galilee.
Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from (John 7:27).
But was it true that the Jews did not know where the Christ came from? Not at all.
Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? (John 7:42)
The prophet Micah foretold that Christ was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2).
Matthew made use of this verse in the Nativity story. In general, the Jews subscribed to this understanding. Then, how could the Jews claim that no one would know where Christ came from?
Secondly, when Nicodemus tried to defend Jesus, his fellow Pharisees challenged him.
They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee." (John 7:52)
Now, we know that there was a prophet called Jonah who came from Gath-hepher, a town in lower Galilee.
He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher (2 Kings 14:25).
In the Nativity story of Jesus, both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem though he was later raised up in Nazareth, Galilee. Therefore, the Pharisees was proven wrong once more by the Evangelist. Perhaps they knew that Jesus came from Nazareth but did not know where Jesus was born. Therefore, they passed a wrong judgment on Jesus.
How often we judge by appearances! In this way, we are no better than the Pharisees in Jesus' time. The question now becomes how we may develop right judgment. I think we should keep an open-mind. Evaluate evidences as they are. Only then can we make right judgment.
For example, in many people's eyes, the implementation of the Mother Tongue policy has been a disaster. To begin with, the Hong Kong SAR government has underestimated the reaction of parents against depriving their children of the opportunity to learn in English. What is worse, this policy undermines the English proficiency of the school children. On top of these defects, the government has not been determined enough. She allows 114 EMI schools to exist. Now, CMI schools suddenly became second class schools overnight. Recently, in an attempt to remove the labelling effect on schools, the SAR government proposes a "fine-tuning" of the medium of instruction in the classrooms. Many people eagerly embrace this proposal, naively imagining that there will be no more EMI and CMI schools in Hong Kong. Will this fantasy come true? Pardon me for using judgmental language here. Let us keep our minds open. Wait and see more disasters to unfold.

My God, our perception is selective and clouded with prejudice. Open our eyes to see the truth so that we may be able to make right judgment. I pray that the administrators may see the reality soon enough before disasters strike. Amen.