The feast of tabernacles

JESUS moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret. So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.

REFLECTION NO ONE WILL KNOW WHERE HE IS FROM.

Most Jews believe that the Christ will come from Bethlehem, the city of David. Others in the crowd claim, however, that the Christ has secret origins. And they also claim to know Jesus’ own origin. But it is only the crowd’s way of avoiding recognizing the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth who stands before them. Their vaunted knowledge of the Scriptures and their theological learning are no more than an excuse to look everywhere else except at what is staring them squarely in the face. Jesus reminds them yet again that it is not he that matters, but the one who sent him. He himself has not come “on his own.” He is only the one who obeys the will of God fully and carries it out perfectly. He is the only Son. Failure to recognize him comes ultimately from ignorance of the one who sent him: “whom you do not know.” “I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” The reason Jesus can be who he is, God’s Revealer to men, is twofold: his origin: “I come from him,” and his mission: “He sent me.” His dependence on and his obedience to the Father constitute the uniqueness of his claim. This is why the Jews’ refusal to accept him is due ultimately to their ignorance and their unwillingness to know the one who sent him.

“So they tried to arrest him” (v 30). Whenever the truth becomes uncomfortable to hear and too inconvenient to bear, brute power is resorted to as the answer.