7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, 6 cried out, 7 “You both know me and know where I come from! 8 And I have not come on my own initiative, 9 but the one who sent me 10 is true. You do not know him, 11
1 tn Grk “an hour.”
2 tn Grk “each one to his own”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text but is implied. The phrase “each one to his own” may be completed in a number of different ways: “each one to his own property”; “each one to his own family”; or “each one to his own home.” The last option seems to fit most easily into the context and so is used in the translation.
3 sn The proof of Jesus’ negative evaluation of the disciples’ faith is now given: Jesus foretells their abandonment of him at his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (I will be left alone). This parallels the synoptic accounts in Matt 26:31 and Mark 14:27 when Jesus, after the last supper and on the way to Gethsemane, foretold the desertion of the disciples as a fulfillment of Zech 13:7: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Yet although the disciples would abandon Jesus, he reaffirmed that he was not alone, because the Father was still with him.
4 tn Grk “And” (but with some contrastive force).
5 tn Grk “the Father.”
6 tn Grk “the temple.”
7 tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”
8 sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.
9 tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”
10 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
11 tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”