Is Jesus the Christ?
People from Jerusalem notice the contradiction between the leaders' intent to kill Jesus and his public teaching. They question whether he may be the Christ, while assuming the Christ's origin will be unknown. Jesus replies that they know his earthly origin but not the one who sent him. The leaders try to seize him, yet his hour has not come. Many in the crowd believe because his signs seem unmatched.
T25hen some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ? 27But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from.” 28Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, 29but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.” 30So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31Many in the crowd, however, believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He perform more signs than this man?”
The Pharisees and chief priests send officers to arrest Jesus after hearing the crowd's whispers. Jesus says he will be with them only a little while longer before going to the one who sent him. The people puzzle over where he might go, speaking of the dispersed Jews among the Greeks, and remain uncertain about his words.
32When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him. 33So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. 34You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”