John 7:25-31
New Catholic Bible
25 Where Is Jesus from and Where Is He Going?[a] Then some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the man they are trying to kill? 26 And yet he is speaking publicly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities realize that he is the Christ? 27 And yet we know where this man is from. But when the Christ appears, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple,
“You know me,
and you also know where I am from.
Yet I have not come of my own accord,
but he who sent me is true.
You do not know him,
29 but I know him
because I am from him
and it was he who sent me.”
30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many in the crowd believed in him, and they said, “When the Christ comes, will he perform more signs than this man has accomplished?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- John 7:25 The new prophet intrigues the people. He is one of theirs, yet claims an origin that does not cease to be mysterious. Some of the people are tempted to recognize him as the Messiah. The official authorities rebel against this temptation and want him arrested. In veiled words, Jesus announces his return to the Father (vv. 33-34). The authorities see this as an attempt to flee Palestine.
In all these contrasts there is perhaps some irony. Jesus escapes the people who want to place him in their preconceived ideas, just as he escapes the people who want to lay hands on him. Jesus can be talked about endlessly; it is quite another thing to accept his mystery.
