©Michael Player
Chapter 7:25-36 (ESV) - Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. 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 seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Question to consider: Where would Jesus go that they could not come?
Even though Jesus came up for the festival privately, it did not take long for people to begin to recognize Him when He began teaching in the temple. Because of His authoritative teaching, and because He continually performed miracles, the people wondered if He could actually be who He claimed, but their greatest stumbling block was knowing that He grew up in Nazareth as a carpenter’s son. Malachi 3:1 says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”
The people believed that the messenger to come was Elijah. Elijah of course ascended into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11) so their belief was that Elijah would come back from heaven, prepare the way for the Lord who would then suddenly appear in His temple.
Of course, Jesus had pointed out that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah and prepared the way through baptism. I think Jesus was being sarcastic when He declared that they knew where He’d come from. They thought they knew since He grew up in Nazareth, but Jesus came into the temple of His body when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
The Pharisees tried to arrest Jesus after He reiterated that they didn’t know the one who sent Him, for once again, they knew Jesus was saying that He came from God. However, His time had not yet come. After His death and resurrection, Jesus would ascend to where He came from— at the right hand of God the Father. Because He said they would not find Him and could not come to where He was going, they thought He was going to go into Gentile lands and preach to the Hellenistic Jews in their synagogues.
Eventually the early church would go and do just that, but Jesus’ ministry remained in Israel as He went after the lost sheep who had been led astray by those who wanted to arrest Jesus.
Dear heavenly Father, help us to trust in Jesus’ promise to be with us until the end of the age. May it cause us to boldly proclaim the truth of Your word and the good news of the righteousness of Christ that You have offered to us. Amen.