Lent 2023: John 7:10-36

Jesus at the Festival of Shelters

10 After his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but secretly. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, he’s deceiving the people.” 13 Still, nobody was talking publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

14 When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How is this man so learned, since he hasn’t been trained?”

16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

20 “You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who is trying to kill you?”

21 “I performed one work, and you are all amazed,” Jesus answered. 22 “This is why Moses has given you circumcision —not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers —and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”

The Identity of the Messiah

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Yet, look, he’s speaking publicly and they’re saying nothing to him. Can it be true that the authorities know he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from.”

28 As he was teaching in the temple, Jesus cried out, “You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is true. You don’t know him; 29 I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”

30 Then they tried to seize him. Yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. 31 However, many from the crowd believed in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he won’t perform more signs than this man has done, will he?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants to arrest him.

33 Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. Then I’m going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said to one another, “Where does he intend to go that we won’t find him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he? 36 What is this remark he made: ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

—John 7:10-36

Read & Journal

Read John 7:10-36. Use the questions below to meditate on what you’ve read.

• What do these verses reveal about Jesus? His character? His mission?

• Underline words or phrases that teach you about Jesus’ relationship with the Father. Based on what you’ve read, what does this passage reveal about Jesus’ and the Father?

• Once again, Jesus pointed to the truth the Jewish leaders had before them, but they had missed how it pointed to him. According to verse 19, what had the Jews been depending on (but completely misunderstood and couldn’t obey)?

• Think about your walk with Jesus. How has God used his Word and even the law or Ten Commandments to help you understand your need for him?

• Consider Jesus’ words in verses 28-29. The crowd and the religious leaders knew all about Jesus’ earthly origins, therefore, they thought he couldn’t be the Messiah. Why is it important that Jesus said the Father sent him?

• Think about all the different ways people responded to Jesus in this passage. They regarded him as a good man (v. 12), a fraud (v. 12), demon-possessed (v. 20), and the Messiah (v. 26). How have you responded to Jesus?

• Today is the day of salvation. If you have never responded to Jesus in faith, trusting in what he has already done through his life, death and resurrection to make you right with God, the choice is before you. Who do you say he is? Journal your prayer of response.

• If you are a follower of Christ, praise Jesus as the Messiah, whose life, death and resurrection have made a way for you to spend eternity with the Father and live with purpose every day. Journal your prayer of praise and thanksgiving.