John 7:32-44

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.” Some people said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live and teach the Greek people there? What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘You cannot come where I am’?” On the last and most important day of the feast Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.” Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit. When the people heard Jesus’ words, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Christ.” Still others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee. The Scripture says that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” So the people did not agree with each other about Jesus. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one was able to touch him.