It seems evident that those in the crowd who accused Jesus of having a demonic disposition, for accusing the Jewish authorities of seeking his life (John 7:19-20), were pilgrims of the Diaspora. Probably, they were moved by the Jewish authorities in the crowd to come to their defense (cp. Matthew 27:20). Clearly, a new thought is begun at verse-25, for some of the citizens of Jerusalem offered their opinion of the controversy that had been taking place in the Temple. Whether this occurred on the same day or another day during the feast isn’t clear, but they spoke among themselves showing that the conspiracy to seize and destroy Jesus wasn’t a secret to them. The Jewish authorities may have been able to hide their motives from the Diaspora pilgrims, but the citizens of Jerusalem knew very well that they wanted to kill Jesus (John 7:25).
Moreover, these same local folks wondered why the authorities didn’t seize Jesus. After all, he was speaking fearlessly in their presence (John 7:26), and this seems to be a legitimate question. Why didn’t the Pharisees and chief priests take Jesus into custody at this time? Of course, any opinion we have today is mere conjecture, but on other occasions the authorities simply feared an angry response from the multitude (cp. Matthew 21:46; Mark 11:18; Luke 22:2), but that doesn’t seem to be the case here, for the Diaspora Jews didn’t believe Jesus and seemed apt to defend the authorities, while the local Jews seemed surprised Jesus wasn’t taken into custody. On the other hand, Jesus was fearless, and he was able to soundly crush the prevailing argument they had about his breaking the Sabbath. Would he be able to turn the multitude quickly against them or at least enough that the Romans would intervene, which might cause a riot instigated by the more zealous among them? Whatever the reason, we can be certain of one thing, they didn’t intervene and seize Jesus at this time, perhaps hoping to do so on a more private occasion.
Nevertheless, the locals wondered at the apparent complacency of the Jewish authorities, who were also listening to Jesus. Did they have a change of heart, and might they, now, be willing to embrace Jesus as the Messiah for the lack of another candidate? After all, these were the times when the Messiah was expected to appear (Daniel 9:24-27; Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25, 38; 24:21; cp. John 1:19-21; 10:24).
Nevertheless, as though they wanted to answer their own question, they began to doubt Jesus could be the Messiah, because, according to the prevailing understanding, the Messiah would suddenly come to them but they wouldn’t know much about him (cp. Matthew 11:27; John 1:5, 10). Yet, they thought they knew plenty about Jesus, or at least enough to cast doubt on his being this otherwise mysterious figure (John 7:27). So, in effect, neither did the common folk embrace Jesus as the Messiah, because, evidently, they believed exactly as their teachers believed. In other words, they thought they were able to see (cp. John 9:40-41) enough about Jesus to conclude he wasn’t whom he claimed to be. They were blind in their spirits (John 3:3) and didn’t know it.[1]
At the end of the day, perhaps this is the real reason why the Jewish authorities didn’t intervene and arrest Jesus. As long as the Diaspora believed Jesus had a demon and sided with the chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:20; cp. Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:21-22; John 8:48, 52), and as long as the local Jews believed as their teachers did, vis-à-vis that they could see (John 9:40-41), and were naturally equipped to say: ‘Jesus simply didn’t fit the description of what can be known about the Messiah’ (John 7:27), then Jesus is a moot figure. He claims he is the Messiah, but no one believes him. Eventually, the Romans will take note and get rid of him themselves.
Nevertheless, the locals were, apparently, close enough to Jesus that he overheard their murmuring, and he cried out in response, perhaps in exasperation, saying: ‘you both know me and some details about my life and ministry, but you also know that I have never claimed to have come of my own accord. On the contrary, I am sent by the One who is true, and you do not know him (John 7:28), and I have been sent out from beside him to represent him’ (John 7:29).[2]
At this point the Jewish authorities wanted to seize Jesus, but the text says they couldn’t, because his time was not yet come (John 7:30). Once again, we are not privy to the particular details that prevented the authorities from seizing Jesus, but what that may have looked like is the tide had turned in Jesus’ favor. Many of the people began to believe him, concluding that, when the Messiah would come, would he perform more miracles than what Jesus did? Thus, fearing the people, the authorities decided against arresting him at that time (John 7:31).
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[1] This is the theme of John’s record at this point, namely the spiritual blindness of Israel, as he leads us through his narrative to the point where Jesus heals the man born blind (John 9:1). Moreover, this is also the case of many modern Christians who embrace the concept of a messiah or christ, who comes out of heaven to establish a physical kingdom in Jerusalem, where he becomes the physical and visible king of the Jews and of the entire world.
[2] The verb: apostello (G649) means to send out as one’s messenger or agent / representative, and the preposition “from” is para (G3844) and means ‘from beside’ indicating the source or place from which Jesus had come. In other words, Jesus claimed to be God, who sat beside the Father on his throne.
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