In the previous message we studied the first thirteen verses of John 7 and now we will be exploring the rest of the chapter. It is a long block of scripture spanning 39 verses. It chronicles more sparring between Jesus and the Pharisees. This time, however, it is playing out in front of a very large crowd at the festival in Jerusalem. Taken as a whole these verses depict a lot of murky confusion in the minds of the people. They seem like they are not entirely sure what to make of Jesus, and this is exacerbated by the obvious disapproval of their experts in the law, The Pharisees. If you were to go through and count question marks you would find that this passage is absolutely littered with them. About 80% of all the recorded statements from the Pharisees and the onlookers in the crowd take the form of a question. That’s a lot of bewilderment.
The thing that makes this passage so interesting to me though is the presence of that large crowd. Most of the text is dominated by Jesus’ teaching and the response of the Pharisees. However, it was the hearts, minds and souls of the people that they are trying to win over. John highlights the presence of the crowd by sprinkling in their thoughts and questions throughout the exchange, and these have a powerful influence on what Jesus teaches and how the Pharisees respond.
I hope you can listen in as we worship God through the study of John 7:14-52. I am sure that God has some things He wants to say to us as we unpack these verses together.