Jesus in the Temple

After these things Jesus spent His time in Galilee. He determined not to travel around in Judea, because the Judeans wanted to kill Him.

But as the Judeans’ Feast of Tabernacles drew close, and His brothers said to Him, “Leave this place and go to Judea, so that Your disciples may see the things You do. For no one does anything in secret if he wants to be in public. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

Therefore Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always present. The world can’t hate you. But it hates Me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

“You go on up to the celebration. I’m not going to this celebration yet because it isn’t time for Me to go.”

And saying these things to them, He remained in Galilee. But when His brothers left for the celebration, then He also went up — not openly but in secret.

The Judeans were looking for Him at the festival, and saying, “Where is He?”

And there was a lot of quiet bickering about Him among the crowds. For some said, “He’s a good man.” But others were saying, “No, He misleads the common people.” Yet no one talked about Him openly for fear of the religious leaders.

Now at the midpoint of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. And the Judeans marveled, saying, “How can this man have such knowledge, since He was never taught?”

Jesus answered them by saying, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone truly desires to do His will, he’ll know about the teaching — whether it is from God, or if I speak from Myself. Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks to glorify the One who sent Him is true, and there is no wrongdoing in Him.

“Moses gave you the law, did he not? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill Me?”

People in the crowd reacted, saying “You have a demon! Who wants to kill You?”

Jesus said to them, “One work I carried out, and all of you marvel at it.

“Yet because Moses gave you circumcision (although it began with the early fathers, not with Moses), even you will circumcise someone on the Sabbath. If a man can be circumcised on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge by first glance, but form righteous opinions.”

Religious Leaders Want Jesus Arrested

Then some who lived in Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? Yet look, He speaks publicly, and they say nothing to Him!”

“Have the authorities truly recognized that this really is Messiah?”

“But we know where this one is from. And no one knows where Messiah is from, whenever He comes.”

For this reason Jesus raised His voice as He taught in the temple, saying “You know both who I am and where I’m from. Yet I have not come on My own. He who sent Me is true. Him you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

So then they wanted to arrest Him. But no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. In fact, many in the crowd came to believe in Him. They said, “When the Messiah appears, will He produce more signs than this man has accomplished?”

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Him, so the leading priests and Pharisees sent temple officers to arrest Him.

Then Jesus told them, “I am still with you a little while, and then I am going to Him who sent Me. You will look for Me, but will not find Me. And where I am you cannot come.”

At this, the Judeans said among themselves, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? Is He going to the Dispersion among the Greeks, to teach the Greeks? What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

On the last day of the festival (the big day of celebration), Jesus stood and shouted, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink! Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Rivers of living water shall flow out of his heart.’”

But He was talking about the Spirit, which those believing in Him would soon receive. (For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

When they heard these words, some in the crowd were saying, “This man really is the Prophet!”

Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

But they said, “How is the Messiah to come from Galilee? Doesn’t the Scripture say that from the bloodline of David, and from David’s village of Bethlehem, the Messiah is to come?”

So the crowd became divided over Jesus. Some even wanted to arrest Him. But no one laid a hand on Him.

So when the temple officers returned to the leading priests and Pharisees, they asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him?”

The officers responded, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

The Pharisees then said to them, “You haven’t also been led astray, have you? Do any of the leaders or Pharisees believed in Him? But these common people, who know nothing of the Law — they are cursed by God.”

Nicodemus who was one of them (the one who had met with Jesus before), said to them, “Does our Law judge a man before allowing him to speak for himself, and finding out what he does?”

They answered back, “You’re not from Galilee too, are you? Search and see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”

Then they each went to their own home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

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