7:25-26 Though many of the Jewish pilgrims in the temple courtyard did not realize how antagonistic the religious leaders were to Jesus (v. 20), some of the locals did. They marvelled that Jesus was speaking out publicly and the authorities were not opposing Him. They expected that if Jesus was a deceiver they would lock Him up, but if He was the Messiah they would acknowledge Him as such. The authorities acted as they did because they feared the people. The situation led some of the locals to suspect that the leaders might really believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
7:27 The people of Jerusalem felt inclined to disbelieve that Jesus was the Messiah because they believed that their human Messiah's origins would be unknown. This belief was a tradition.278It was certainly not scriptural since the Old Testament clearly predicted that Messiah's birthplace would be Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). The common understanding of Jesus' origin was that He grew up and had evidently been born in Nazareth. Not only did they fail to perceive His heavenly origin, but they were also wrong about His earthly origin. Indeed they did not know Him very well at all.
7:28-29 Whenever John described Jesus as crying out, an important public pronouncement followed (cf. 1:15; 7:37; 12:44). Jesus said that His hearers did know Him. Probably He meant that they knew who He was superficially (cf. v. 24) and knew that He had an earthly origin (6:42), but they knew less than they thought. Jesus was speaking ironically. They did not know the One who had sent Him, though Jesus did because He had come from that One.
The One who had sent Jesus was true (Gr. alethinos, real). Jesus meant that God really had sent Him regardless of what others might think about His origins. Unfortunately they did not know the One who had sent Him even though they prided themselves on knowing the true God (cf. Rom. 2:17-19). They did not know God because they did not know their Scriptures (cf. 5:46). They did not know Jesus because they did not know the Father who had sent Him. In verse 16 Jesus disclaimed originality for his teaching, and here he disclaimed responsibility for his mission.279
"He was once again claiming to be God! He was not simply borninto this world like any other human; He was sentto earth by the Father. This means that He existed before He was born on the earth."280
7:30-31 Evidently those Jews who tried to seize (Gr. piazo) Jesus did so to restrain Him (cf. vv. 32, 44; 8:20; 10:39). However they could not because His hour (Gr. hora), the time for His crucifixion and its consequences, had not yet arrived. God prevented Jesus' premature arrest. Even though some of the Jews tried to arrest Jesus, many from the multitude believed on Him. Jesus' presence provoked a division among His hearers (cf. 1:11-12; 3:18-21).
Some believed because of the signs that He had performed. This was not a strong basis for faith (cf. 2:11, 23; 4:48). They concluded that He was the Messiah, but the common understanding of Messiah was that He would be a powerful human deliverer. Probably few if any of these Jews believed that Jesus was also God incarnate.
"But throughout this Gospel it is better to believe on the basis of miracles than not to believe at all, so there is no condemnation of this faith as inadequate."281
7:32 The Pharisees heard some of the Jews present voicing their belief that Jesus must be the Messiah. These comments moved them to act immediately to arrest Jesus. When the common people turned to Jesus, they turned away from the Pharisees and their teachings. Together with the chief priests, who were mainly Sadducees and not friendly to the Pharisees, they ordered the temple soldiers to seize Jesus. This attempt illustrates the seriousness of the situation as the authorities viewed it. Probably the arrest warrant came from the Sanhedrin. The temple police were Levites responsible to the Sanhedrin.
7:33-34 Jesus again said that His hour had not yet come, only in different words. When His hour came, He would return to the Father. The Jews would search for Him but be unable to find Him. He was going where they could not come, namely to heaven. Death was not the end. They could not come where He was going in their present condition. That required regeneration and translation (cf. 8:21; 13:33).
Time was running out both for Jesus to finish His work and for the Jews to believe on Him. The Jews had only a little longer to place their faith in Him before He would leave them and depart to heaven. After that, many Jews would seek their Messiah but not find Him. That is what has been happening since Jesus ascended, and it will happen until He returns to the earth at His second coming (Zech. 12:10-13; Rev. 1:7). Jesus was, of course, referring enigmatically to His death.
7:35-36 Again Jesus' hearers thought that He was speaking of physical matters and earthly places. The Dispersion was the term that described the Jews who had scattered from Palestine and were living elsewhere in the world. They thought Jesus was referring to ministering to Jews or perhaps Gentile proselytes who were living outside Palestine. In the New Testament the word "Greek"is synonymous with Gentiles (cf. Col. 3:11). This seemed too fantastic to be a messianic activity.
"Here, as more than once in this Gospel, the Jews are unconsciously prophesying. The departure of Jesus in death would indeed be beneficial, but not because it would remove from the earth a false Messiah, as they supposed, but because, as a result of the proclamation of the gospel which would follow His death and resurrection, Gentiles would be brought into the people of God."282
These Jews did not understand where Jesus was going any more than they understood where He had come from (v. 27). They were so exclusive in their thinking that they thought it very improbable that Jesus would leave Palestine. Ironically the Christian apostles did go to those very areas and people to preach the Christ whom the Jews rejected.
