Naive people are easily mislead. The Jews at the festival who believed their wicked political and religious leaders, and Christians who follow false cults, corrupt preachers, and wicked politicians are all mislead. There are many reasons for being naive. Some children are raised to blindly trust certain political and denominational leaders. Other are just too lazy to think for themselves, where it is easier to just follow.

I believe, one of the most common causes of naivete today is bad theology. We are born broken. Our relationship with God is broken and we have a bent toward selfishness and rebelliousness. There is a false theology that teaches that we are born good. People embrace this because we want to believe we can be good without making the choices and taking the actions requited to be good. For all these different reasons, and more, most of the Jews at the festival left without recognizing the wicked and unrighteousness of their leaders.

The writer does not want the Jewish people to remain blind to the wickedness and evil of their leaders. In this scripture selection he records some events that give signs that a prophet or leader is unrighteous and characteristics of corruption.

The Pharisees spoke of the common Jew with contempt. They accused them of being ignorant and went so far as cursing them. Yet they revealed their own ignorance by saying no prophet comes out of Galilee. Jonah was from Gath Hepher, a few miles north of Nazareth in Galilee (2 Kings 14:25). They did not attempt to engage with someone who had a differing opinion dismissing them as deceived. They practiced “confession by projection”; they accused others of what they were guilty of. They were deceivers so they accused Jesus of deceit. They make laws for others, but did not apply those laws to themselves. The law requiring people be given a fair hearing, but they ignored the law if they were doing the condemning.

Naive people are easily misled by the wicked. Christians following God’s wisdom, are not.