John 7:25-53

Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him, and no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Christ. But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” Jesus, teaching in the Temple, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true, whom you don’t know. But I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time. But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?” 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. The Temple guards went back to the leading priests and the Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?” The guards answered, “The words he says are greater than the words of any other person who has ever spoken!” The Pharisees answered, “So Jesus has fooled you also! Have any of the leaders or the Pharisees believed in him? No! But these people, who know nothing about the law, are under God’s curse.” Nicodemus, who had gone to see Jesus before, was in that group. He said, “Our law does not judge a person without hearing him and knowing what he has done.” They answered, “Are you from Galilee, too? Study the Scriptures, and you will learn that no prophet comes from Galilee.” _____________________________ Some of the earliest surviving Greek copies do not contain 7:53—8:11. [And everyone left and went home.