11: Is Jesus the Christ? — John 7:32–8:11


⁷³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.
³³ Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. ³⁴ You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

³⁷ On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸ and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.”
⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴² Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” ⁴³ So there was a division in the crowd because of him.
⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵ Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” ⁴⁶ The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” ⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸ Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹ “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” ⁵² They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

8⁵³ [Then each of them went home,
¹ while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground  ⁹ When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]  NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What is going on as this section opens? Where is Jesus? Who else is involved? What do the leaders do in response to the crowd’s reactions?

2. Why do you think Jesus tells the Jews he will be leaving? How do the Jews react to this declaration? Why don’t they understand what Jesus is talking about?

3. What does Jesus do on the last day of the festival? Why do you think he did this? How do the people react to his claim? How do you think you would have responded?

4. Why are the people confused about Jesus’ identity? Why are the Jewish leaders so focused on Jesus coming from Galilee? Who tries to redirect their thinking? Does this help?

5. What happens the next day? Where is Jesus? What is he doing? Who interrupts?

6. What do the Jewish teachers ask Jesus? Why is this a gotcha question [see Notes]? How does he finally answer their question? What do the Jews do in response to Jesus’ direction? What does Jesus do regarding the woman?

Get Personal

How has the “living water” Jesus talks about affected your life recently? Have there been times when you’ve looked in the wrong place for Jesus? How has God helped you focus on where he really is?

7:33. “And then . . .” – Jesus prophesies his death and resurrection.
7:38. Living water — Jesus applies Zechariah’s prophecy read each day at the festival to himself: On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, [14:8], as well as Isaiah’s prophecy: For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. [44:3].
7:40. The prophet — the “prophet like [Moses]” from Deut 18:15. The irony is that Jesus is, in fact, the complete prophet – he doesn’t just speak the word of God, he is the Word.
7:41. Galilee . . . Scriptures clearly state — again the Jews demonstrate their ignorance of the Scriptures they claim to understand. Jesus was born in Bethlehem [Micah 5:2], but he grew up in Galilee, which Isaiah foretold: in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. [Isa 9:2].
7:48. Has any one of the authorities — the Pharisees’ pride evidently extends to believing that their “no” votes determine Jesus’ identity.

7:50. Nicodemus — check chapter 3.
7:51. Legal — Mosaic Law required that an accused person must be heard before a verdict or judgment could be declared, [Deut 1:16].
7:52. No prophet — wrong again: Jonah and Elijah were both from the area of Galilee.
7:53-8:11. most scholars believe this story, which may be true, is a later addition, since none of the earliest manuscripts include it.
8:3. Caught in adultery — unlikely unless the man was part of a set-up, (but he was not arrested with the woman as the law requires).
8:5. Stoning — Mosaic Law specified execution of the man and the woman by stoning as the punishment for adultery, [Deut 22:22].
8:6. To test him — Roman law did not allow Jews to execute anyone. If Jesus says she should be killed he goes against Roman law; if he says not to kill her he ignores Mosaic Law.
8:7. Who is without sin — Jewish teaching agreed that everyone has violated the Law at some time.
8:9. Went away — Jesus exposed the Jewish leaders’ true motives and hypocrisy and thereby removed their reason for being there.