Most of the Jewish leaders continued to reject Jesus’ message.

John 12:36b-43

After Jesus said those things, he left them and hid from them. 37 Although he had done many miracles while people were watching, most of them refused to believe that he is ◄the Messiah/from God►. 38 Their stubbornness and refusal to believe was similar to the stubbornness of the people that the prophet Isaiah wrote about long ago:

Lord, ◄hardly anyone has believed our message!/who has believed our message?► [RHQ]

Most people refused to accept it,

even though you showed them your power!

39 That was the reason why they were unable to believe. It was like Isaiah wrote somewhere else that God said:

40 They have refused to understand; they acted as though they were blind people!

They were insensible in their inner beings!

As a result, they have not perceived my truth!

They have not understood it in their inner beings!

They have not turned from their sinful lives,

and because of that I cannot help them!

41 Isaiah wrote that because it was as though he saw ahead of time how great Jesus would be, and he prophesied those things about him.

42 Although most of the Jewish leaders [SYN] did not believe that Jesus is ◄the Messiah/from God►, some of them believed in him. But they would not tell anyone that they believed in him, because they were afraid that if they said that, the Pharisees would not let them worship in the synagogues. 43 They wanted people to praise them more than they wanted God to praise them.