Conclusion of At The Festival Of The Tabernacles

The people in the crowd, probably visitors to the festival are unaware of such efforts. They consider it inconceivable that anyone would want to kill such a wonderful teacher. So they believe that something must be wrong with Jesus for him to think this. "You have a demon," they say. "Who is seeking to kill you?"

The Jewish leaders want Jesus killed, even though the crowd may not realize it. When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath a year and a half before the leaders tried to kill him. So Jesus now points up their unreasonableness by asking them: "If a man receives a circumcision on a sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you violently angry at me because I made a man completely sound in health on a sabbath? Stop judging from the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are aware of the situation, now say: "This is the man they are seeking to kill, is it not? And yet, see! he is speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. The rulers have not yet come to know for a certainty that this is the Christ, have they?" These residents of Jerusalem explain why they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ: "We know where this man is from; yet when the Christ comes, no on is to know where he is from." Jesus answers: "You both know me and know where I am from. Also, I have not come of my own initiative, but he that sent me is real, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am a representative from him, and that One sent me forth." At this they try to lay hold of him, perhaps to put him in prison or to have him killed. Yet they do not succeed because it is not time for Jesus to die.

Still, many put faith in Jesus, as indeed they should. Why, he has walked on water, calmed the winds, quieted storm seas, miraculously fed thousands on a few loaves and fishes, cured the sick, made the lame walk, opened the eyes of the blind, cured lepers and even raised the dead. So they ask: "When the Christ arrives, he will not perform more signs than this man has performed will he?"

When the Pharisees hear the crowd murmuring these things, they and the chief priests send out officers to arrest Jesus. John 7:11-32.

Next time: They Fail To Arrest Him