25 Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. 26 But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him, and no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Christ. 27 But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Jesus, teaching in the Temple, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true, whom you don’t know. 29 But I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
30 When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time. 31 But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”
35 Some people said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live and teach the Greek people there? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘You cannot come where I am’?”
Read John 7:25-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In Jesus’ ministry, often He said things that rubbed people the wrong way. During one of these times, John shares with us an interesting verse in his gospel record. While teaching in the temple during one of the festivals, He said some things that seemed to claim equality with God – which was something that was punishable by death and it was crossing a line that the people had determined should never be crossed.
“When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time.” (v. 30)
John points us to an interesting theme that runs throughout Jesus’ life on earth: God gave Him protection that allowed Him to speak the hard truth without being harmed while leading up to the cross. No one was able to touch or arrest Him because God had placed Jesus under His protection.
This is incredibly important for us to pay attention to.
First, this tells us that God is willing to protect us. While not everything bad will be avoided, God will only let bad through that fulfills a purpose or gives us an opportunity/experience we can use later in life.
This also tells us that Jesus lived intentionally knowing this protection existed. Jesus didn’t abuse the protection with the goal of drawing attention to Himself. Instead, He lived entirely within this protection with the goal of pointing people to God by showing His character. God is full of love, not afraid to speak the truth, and is wholly interested in placing us ahead of Himself. Jesus modeled this, and God gave Him all the protection He needed to live life this way.
This leads me to some questions that I challenge myself with:
What would happen if we lived 100% for God knowing His protection exists in our own lives?
What if we lived with the understanding that no one could touch us until God’s timing is right?
If we knew God is protecting us, would that allow us to live more outwardly like Jesus in a world looking for selfless examples of love?
With Jesus as our role model, why not live like God fully protects us – especially since we are called to be His witnesses to a world in need.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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