§20 “I Am from Him and He Sent Me” (John 7:28–36)
The temple discourse begins anew with a notice that Jesus cried out. This second announcement (vv. 28–29), like the first (vv. 16–19), initiates an encounter with the crowd, yet itself comes as a response to something already expressed. As verses 16–19 addressed the question that perplexed the religious authorities in verse 15, so verses 28–29 address the debate among the people of Jerusalem in verses 25–27.
Specifically, they address the objection that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because everyone knows where he comes from. It is true; they know where he is from, geographically. But Jesus’ real origin is not a place but a person, he who sent me, a Person known to Jesus but unknown to them. In this sense Jesus fits the profile of a Messiah of whom it is said “no one will know where he is from.” Jesus knows where he comes from, and the readers of the Gospel know (cf. 1:1–18), but to the religious authorities and the crowds in Jerusalem his origin remains a mystery.
Up to this point in the discourse, he who sent me has not been explicitly identified. It is possible to infer from verse 16 that the term refers to God, because Jesus clearly indicates that his teaching comes from God. But Jesus avoids the designation Father, which played such a major part in the discourse in chapter 5, and instead expresses himself vaguely and indirectly. That Jesus’ hearers do not know his Father (i.e., where Jesus comes from) is dramatized by the fact that the word “Father” is not even used. Later, when he begins to speak openly about his Father (8:16–18), the term provokes an immediate controversy that dominates the remainder of the discourse.
The stage for that final controversy is being set already in chapter 7. Jesus’ words consistently divide his hearers into two groups. To some he is a “good man”; to others a deceiver (v. 12). Some believe in him as a genuine miracle-worker and a possible Messiah (v. 31), but others are ready to turn him over to the authorities. The statement that they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come (v. 30) is illustrated by the failure of the Pharisees and chief priests in verses 32–36. When the guards are sent to arrest him, Jesus turns them back with his mysterious words (vv. 33–34). If Jesus’ origin is unknown to the crowds and the religious authorities, so too is his destination. If he comes from God, it follows that he will go to God again, but the mention of his going is as much an enigma as the reference to his coming. Though he says he will go to the one who sent me (v. 33), the messengers of the priests and Pharisees hear nothing in this of going to be with God. All they hear is you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come (v. 34); and all they can conclude from this is that perhaps Jesus will go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks (v. 35). The suggestion displays their ignorance. They no more understand where he is going than where he came from, and their very failure to arrest him (cf. vv. 45–46) fulfills his prediction that they will look for him but will not find him. There is a touch of irony in the remark about teaching the Greeks, for the narrator and his readers know that Jesus’ departure (i.e., his death and resurrection) will indeed spread his teaching throughout the Greek-speaking world. This second exchange between Jesus and the Jerusalem authorities ends, like the first, on a note of mystery and misunderstanding.
7:28 / Cried out. The use of this verb suggests a solemn and decisive utterance, comparable to John the Baptist’s testimony in 1:15–16 (cf. also 7:37 and 12:44).
You know me, and you know where I am from. This sentence in Greek is connected to what follows by and (Gr.: kai), which, because it introduces a qualification, should be understood as “and yet.” They do know where he comes from geographically, but this knowledge means little because he did not come on his own authority and they do not know the One from whom he came.
7:31 / When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs? The question assumes that the Messiah is to perform miracles when he comes (cf. 2:18; 6:30; Mark 13:22), and that the sheer number or frequency of his miracles testifies to his identity. These notions, while not widely attested in Jewish sources, are assumed to be part of the Jewish expectation in 20:30, 31 as well: Jesus’ miracles bear witness that he is the Messiah, and the ones written about are but a sampling from a much larger number. In the immediate context at the Feast of Tabernacles, however, Jesus himself has referred only to “one miracle” (v. 21). The crowd’s reaction in v. 31 is apparently based on his reputation, now that they know who he is (cf. 3:2; 6:2).
7:35 / The Jews, a term that in this Gospel frequently refers to the religious authorities (cf., e.g., 7:15), here refers instead to the guards sent by the authorities to arrest Jesus. Their reaction is described further in v. 46: “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” Since they are messengers of the Pharisees and chief priests, however, it is possible that the misunderstanding attributed to them in v. 35 is regarded as characteristic of the religious authorities as well (cf. 8:22).
Where our people live scattered among the Greeks: lit., “to the diaspora of the Greeks.” The Greek word diaspora was used to refer to non-Palestinian Jews (and later to Christians, 1 Peter 1:1) as the people of God scattered throughout the Greek world. The “diaspora of the Greeks” must therefore mean the diaspora of the Jews among the Greeks. The supposition is that Jesus will go and teach not the diaspora Jews, however, but the Greeks (i.e., Gentiles). What is presented here as a crude misunderstanding becomes in later chapters of this Gospel, on the basis of Jesus’ death, a realistic hope (cf. 10:16; 11:52; 12:20–24).