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Commentaries
English
John
  
50Nicodemus, who had gone to Him before, and who was one of them, said to them,51"Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what He does?"52They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee."


One of those present was troubled at the hostility of the Council. This was Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus secretly by night. Christ had shown him the need for rebirth. This man was still under Jesus’ influence, and wanted to mediate on his behalf, without publicity stating that he favored Jesus. He used the style of the law in the courts, which rejected the passing of judgment on absentees.
The judges, however, laughed at this man of conscience. Even if the court sat it would be largely formal, sentencing the innocent with fraudulent steps. The plotters felt that the evidence conclusive that Jesus was a false prophet since he was a Galilean, a region despised by the Jews for being lax as regards the law. No Scripture would indicate that the promised Messiah or a prophet in the last days would hail from there. The Pharisees were convinced he was false, so that they mocked Nicodemus, who wished to present Jesus before them, to persuade them by his forcible words, as he had earlier convinced Nicodemus.

Question
Why did the priests and the Pharisees despise the common people?