John 7:10-24
“Notice what you notice.” The entire first paragraph of today’s reading is intriguing. John seems to be distinguishing between “the Jews” and “the people” (or the crowds). When he mentions the Jews, I’m thinking that he means the Jewish leaders. In this first paragraph John writes that the Jews “were looking for him” and the people were speaking cautiously “for fear of the Jews”. On the other hand, John has the people split between those who say that “He is a good man” and those who say “He leads the people astray” and in both cases, people are afraid to speak openly.
Then in the next paragraph John has the Jews astonished (or marveling) at Jesus’ teaching. There could be at least two different takes on that statement. First, it could be that the Jewish leaders were truly amazed at Jesus’ teaching because He was so powerful, so convincing, in spite of Jesus’ lack of formal education. On the other hand, it could be that they were antagonistic toward Him simply because He did not have that formal teaching, that “pedigree”, that stamp of approval from the established teachers. Put it all together and Jesus has this sense that they want to kill Him (vv. 19-20). We find out later how correct He was!
Verse 21 refers to the “one work” (or one deed) that Jesus did that made the crowd marvel. Presumably he is reflecting back to His healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1, ff.), the only account that I can recall thus far of Jesus healing someone in Jerusalem. After that healing Jesus returned to Galilee and worked many more healings, but there is no record of more healings in Jerusalem.
I am hoping that this daily dose of John’s Gospel for two weeks can help me to better unlock Jesus’ teachings therein, especially His responses to questions that do not seem to be straightforward answers.
Slava Bohu!