The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 456

Yel'B. 25-29.-TM true origin of otur L<Ytd. The opportli.'nHy again l\l'isee ofllssert~ ing his Di,-ine origin, I. THE PERPLEXITY OF THE J£RlJSALEM JEWS 'RESPEOTING THE. l'OLl0Y AND VIEW& oir THEIR RULERS. "Then said some of the inhabifants' of Jerusalem, Is not this ho whom they ~cek to kill? And, lo, he speaketh boldl)', And they s&y nothing to him." 1. Tlie q11e.<tion u put, not by the Je1vsfromforeign lam!~, toho were attending tliefeast bat by Jeu:s of the city, who understood the various phas~ or chnnge In the telllper and st.titude of t.be rulers t-0ward Christ. 2. They tcet-e aware <f the plot fo1·med at the Passover be.fore the last to kill him. 3. They we,-e puzded to account for the passiveness <>f the religious guides of the nation, in presence of provocations so stinging as these supplied hy our Lord's rebukes. They are almost disposed to believe that the rulers recognize Jesus as the Messiah. "Do the rukrs indeed 'J)etceive that he is the Christ?" 4. Thefr own obstinate resi.stance ro s,u;h a view. "Howbeit, we know this man whence he is: but the Christ, when he comes, no one wilt know whence· he is." They pro- fessed to know the parentage and family of Jesu~ identifying them with Galilee; bht they held that the origin of the Messiah would be utterly unknown. He would appear suddenly as An adult, like another Melchizedek, "without father, without mother.'' The Scriptures ])lainly pointed out the tribe, the family, the lineage, the place of the Messia.h's birth. Yet they said, "When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." The nnture of their ignorance is soon made manifest. II. Otrn Lonn's EXPLANATION oF THE JEws' PERPLEXITY. "Ye both know me, and know whence I am.'' 1. He asserts that they knew him as a man. 2. 'But asserts at ome thrd they did not 'l'eCOgnize his Difline nature. (1) They did not acknowledge his essential Sonship. "But I know him: for I am from him "-implying that his know- ledge of his Father arose from his community of nature with him. (2) They did not acknowledge his Divine mission. "He bath sent me." ' (3) They were not only i~o- rant of the Son, bnt also of the Father. "He that sent me is true, whom ye know not." (a) It was a severe thing t.o charge the Jews with ignorance of that God whose ,,·orship was their boast. (b) The truth of the Father was staked upon the Messianic n ission of the Son. Therefore, to deny Christ was to exclude the Father from the range of their knowledge. • Vers. 30-36.-.The effect of our Lord's reaching on the rulers and oo the multitude. His claim to be sent from Hod roused the anger of the rulers. , L THE .ACTION OF THE RULERS. "'l'hen they sought to take hini: but no man laid hands upon him, because his hour was not yet come." 1. Their• efforts are for the present limited to plots against his life. The faithful witness to the tmth is always exposed to the risk of persecution by a world with no love for the truth ... ~- Their efforts are restrained by a DitJine hand which can "restrain the .wrath of men.'' "His time was not yet come." (1) There is an allotted time for each individual life. God has appointed the days of man, and fixed the bounds that he cannot pass. The tiµie o( Christ"s death was not only foreseen but foreordained. (2) The second causes through which the Lord baffled for the time the plots of the rulers were, probably, the divisions of opinion in the multitude, the growing popularity of Jesus, and, just as probably; the majesty of his presence and his speech. IL THE RESPONSE OF THE MULTITUDE TO OUR Lonn's TE.A0HIN'G. ".And many of the multitude believed on him, and said, When the Chtist cometh, wi!! be do more' miracles than these which this Man did?" 1. The Jews here referred to were those from abroad, as distinguished from the Jews of the city, who were intensely opposed to ChriEt. 2. TJ,ey showed a progressive faith. Lately they conceded that he was "a good Man" (ver. 12). Now they admit his Messiahship. 3. J.'heir faith, genuine as it iB has been largel.y iue ro his miraculous power. The tradition was that the Messiah would possess such a power, and these Jews believe that Christ had exhibited it on a scale commensurate with the Messianic expectations of the nation. ITL SUDDEN EFFECT OF TBIB CB.ANGE OP OPINION UPON THE POLI0Y' OF THE AUTHORITIES. "The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him ; and the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take him." 1. They resolved to strila a bk,w at O'Me, B-O as to save their religious hold up01i the people., They had no ,crupk about destroying Christ, for they believed him guilty of blasphemy. 2. The m:r. vtr. 1-69,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 327