Division Over Who Jesus Is (John 7:25-44)
I. Reading the text.
II. Commentary and Discussion: 7:25-27 Jesus was different, and people had a hard time understanding him. Who was he? Really, who was he? Can he be the Christ? Read John 7:27. The Jews who studied their Bibles knew that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem in Judea. Read Matthew 2:4-8. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but raised in Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). He was always called Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Bethlehem (Mark 1:24; 14:67; 16:6; John 1:45-46). There was another religious group that didn’t talk about the Messiah from Bethlehem (City of David), but said that no one would know where he was from. When you tell people where you are from, what do they think? What do they say?
7:28-29 The real point, according to Jesus, was not where he was from, but whom he was from. He was sent by the Heavenly Father (Matthew 10:40; John 20:21).
7:30-31 Some people were ready to kill Jesus, but others “put their faith in him.” The people who believed in him were convinced by the miracles. Are miracles a good reason to believe in Jesus? Why? Why not?
7:32-36 They “sent temple guards to arrest him.” Again, we hear about “the one who sent me.” Jesus will return to the one who sent him, but “you cannot come.” People misunderstood Jesus and thought he was talking about going to another country (the diaspora – where Jews lived among Gentiles). Where was Jesus really going to go?
7:37-44 “On the last and greatest day of the Feast….” Jesus makes a loud announcement: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. Jesus had already told the Samaritan woman about “living water” (John 4:10), now he makes the invitation to everyone at the feast. What does it mean to have a Spirit-filled Christian life? Again, people were confused about where Jesus was really from.

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders (John 7:45-8:11)
I. Reading the text
II. Commentary and Discussion

7:45-53 The temple guards come back without Jesus. The guards were impressed with Jesus’ preaching. The Pharisees have so much pride that they say no Pharisee is fooled by Jesus, but then we remember Nicodemus and hear how he speaks up for Jesus Christ. Again, people say that “no prophet” comes from Galilee. Are there times when you have spoken up for Jesus? Are you always ready to stand up for Jesus?

8:1-11 Jesus had a reputation of eating with sinners, and for many of the legal experts and Pharisees, Jesus was too chummy with sinners and too easy on sin. Now, the teachers of the Law and Pharisees want to test Jesus. Will Jesus stand on the side of a sinner or on the side of God’s Law? Jesus bends down to write “on the ground.” This is not doodling or just drawing a picture, but actual writing. Letters that people could see. We take reading and writing for granted in the USA in 2020, but many nations in the world do not have universal literacy. Many women in Muslim nations have not gone to school and are not able to read and write. Also, some nations like Afghanistan have literacy rates of only 35%. Less than half of the people can read and write. So, Jesus was educated enough to read and write. Question: What do you think he was writing? There are different interpretations, some saying that Jesus wrote Jeremiah 17:13b. “Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.” Other options are some verses from the Law that talk about sin and sinning. Remember that the Bible says we are all sinners, (Romans 3:23; 5:12) but some people think that means other people and not them. Notice that the older ones left first. Finally, only the woman is standing there. Jesus tells her “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Many people have misunderstood this passage to mean that Jesus looks the other way when people sin, but the truth is that the Lord knows all people and how all have sinned. He is waiting for sinners to repent and turn again from sin to the Lord. Easy on sin? No, the Lord knows the pain of sin as He was crucified for the sins of the world, and He is waiting for sinners to repent. Remember the Luke 15, where we have three lost things: a sheep, a coin, and a son. “More rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents....”