John

Jesus knew that He was in a conflict. He did not hate anyone, but sinful people hated Him because His light exposed their dark secrets. His human brothers were also sinners (unlike the Son of God); they posed no holy threat to the fake righteousness of the religious leaders. So although it was safe for them to go with the crowd from Galilee to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, Jesus chose not to be ambushed along the road. Instead, He travelled alone and unrecognised.

Jesus could not be ignored. What He said and did was so authoritative and memorable that the crowds tried to understand who He was and what motivated Him. Their opinions were divided. Some thought He was good, and others concluded He was bad, deceiving the people. But the possibility that He might be God in a human body never occurred to them. Even the trainee apostles did not understand fully until the Holy Spirit came.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem half way through the Feast. But instead of hiding and keeping His identity concealed, He went to the Temple courts and began teaching publically. The religious leaders could not stone Him there, or arrest Him for fear of the crowds. Instead, they all listened and were amazed by His teaching from the Law of Moses. It had such a ring of truth. But how could He have so much knowledge as He was only a carpenter who had never been to any Rabbinic school?

Godliness has integrity - everything holds together, because everything that is true is held together by God. So those who fight against God in their hearts will always be inconsistent. The crowds were amazed at Jesus, but could not work out who He was. He was far better than a good rabbi. He taught with authority in a way which made sense, and His miracles were extraordinary ... but they could not see that He was the Son of God. When He rightly said that they were trying to kill Him, they assumed He was demonised with paranoid thoughts.

They did not know what to make of Jesus. Nothing seemed to add up. The religious leaders were known to have issued an arrest warrant for Him, but they did not dare to seize Him in the temple or preaching publicly. Perhaps they had changed their opinion. But if He was the Christ (Messiah), they believed that He would be previously unknown and come in a surprising way. So they dismissed that possibility, because they assumed He came from Nazareth: they did not know about His Bethlehem entrance into the world, and His pre-existence with the Father in heaven.

Jesus was speaking the truth but they could not understand Him. They knew the meaning of the words but did not grasp the significance of the message. It was so outside their experience that they were perplexed, and sent guards to arrest Him before He stirred up the crowd because He used the words associated with the Messiah, "You will look for me". Did He mean that He would go from Jerusalem and teach Gentiles?
 

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, a solemn procession of priests left the Temple to draw water from the Gihon Spring, just outside the Temple Mount. It was the only immediate water supply for the city. This water was carried in a golden water jar back to the Temple and then poured over the altar. It was a symbolic reminder that God provided water out of a rock during the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 17:1-7), and the people would have been eager to see the whole ceremony through.

As the crowds started to wonder if Jesus was the Messiah, they rightly asked if He had come from King David's family tribe (Judah) and had been born in Bethlehem. Their question came from Micah 5:2 which says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
 

The security guards in the temple had been ordered to arrest Jesus (John 7:32), but they refused. They had no appetite for starting a riot in the temple because the people were starting to trust what Jesus said, and would have supported Him. But, also, the guards were listening to His teaching; they were so impressed with what He said that their consciences would not allow them to seize Him.
 

This passage (John 8:1-11) is not found in most of the earliest manuscripts of John's Gospel but it contains important Divine principles found elsewhere. Certainly, the religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus into saying something contrary to the Law, so that they could have evidence to arrest Him and kill Him. The narrative tells of how they dragged the adulterous woman before Him as He taught the crowds. Would Jesus authorise death by stoning?