John 7:14-36 | What's happening (and who's involved)?

Jumping right in from the previous section, Jesus now is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He makes His way up into the temple and begins teaching. This led to the Jewish leaders to marvel at Him, but it also enabled them to begin contending with Him. And that is the main theme of this weeks passage.

Jesus ultimately defends Himself in three regards. He defends His authority. He defends His origin. He defends His direction. Each of these are critical. It is noted in Matthew 7:29 that Jesus taught, not as the Pharisees, but as one having authority. The fact that the people marveled highlights this being something of a sign. Jesus was not being taught by a formal teacher of the Law, and the people noted that. He taught with an understanding that was not derived from them, so the question naturally arose as to who He speaks from. Jesus answers it by highlighting it is His Father, God. Naturally, this only bothers his opposition more. Jesus highlights the hypocrisy of their stance against them and calls out what the real issue is. They are offended at Him healing on the Sabbath. Jesus speaks an important line that calls into question where their hearts were in the matter.

24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
-John 7:24

Now the peoples around questioned where Jesus came from. This may not be a huge matter in our eyes, but to them, genealogy was essential. It furthered the authority they had if they came from a good lineage. Jesus doubles down on His prior argument and highlights that His origin is of the Father. To this, the people divided. Some wanted to lay hands on Him, but they could not because it was not His time. Others contrarily believed in Him.

Of course those that opposed Jesus were the leaders at the time, and hearing the crowd murmuring, they got upset and sought to take Him away. Jesus makes it clear that His intent is not to stick around for long as He is looking to depart and is going to a place where they will not find Him and where they cannot come. Of course, He is intending to talk about His departure to the Father. But this is something they miss. Instead they question amongst themselves what He is trying to say.

In short, this section is about Jesus contending with the people in Jerusalem and furthering His ministry against the wishes of the Jewish leaders that opposed Jesus.

What observation are you making in this section?