John 7:25-36

Is This the Christ?

Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?’

Officers Are Sent to Arrest Jesus

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. Jesus then said, ‘I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.’ The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, “You will search for me and you will not find me” and, “Where I am, you cannot come”?’

Evidently some of the people know of the intention to kill Jesus; we might assume these are locals whereas the crowd in verse 20 who were not aware of the death threat were pilgrims come from afar for the festival. Since Jesus has not been arrested despite his public teaching, they wonder if the authorities are re-evaluating their assessment and supposing he might be the Messiah after all. But it was common belief, based on apocryphal writings, that the Messiah would publicly appear having no known previous background; yet it is known that Jesus is from Galilee.

Ironically though, Jesus argues that they don’t recognise his true origin as being from God. The striking claim is that by not accepting him they show that they do not in fact know God. This angered some to the extent that they sought to arrest him there and then. We are only told the theological reason why they did not succeed, namely that it was not yet the right time (“his hour had not yet come”), but evidently there were others who were sympathetic to Jesus as Messiah on account of his many signs.

A more official attempt to arrest Jesus is referred to in verse 32 although its outcome is not mentioned until verse 45. The alliance of chief priests and Pharisees, who differed on many things, is rare outside of John’s Gospel, found only in Matthew 21:45 and 27:62.

Jesus next stresses the brevity of his remaining time for ministry in the verses printed above this note. The theme will be developed in the farewell discourse to the disciples later in this Gospel, and they too will misunderstand what he means by ‘going away’ just as people do here.

Blessings as we pray that our eyes may truly be opened to acknowledge Jesus as our Messiah.  Be safe!  Be well!  The Spirit has come!

 To Ponder:

• Many people took Jesus seriously because of his signs (verse 31), something previously noted in John 2:23-25 where Jesus did not trust people who believed in him only on such evidence. What kind of signs, if any, create genuine belief?
• Why do people you know find it hard to believe Jesus was and is the one person who can enable them to truly know God?