February 19, 2026 | Be Connected
Confusion Over Jesus’ Message
Scripture: John 7:32-36(NIV)
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Devotional
There are times when reading scripture, I wonder how the people of Jesus’ day could be so blind. How they, and even his disciples, couldn’t understand his message. Can’t they see it? It’s so obvious! But then I remember: I’ve read the book! I know the ending. Hindsight is 20/20, right? So, let’s take a step back.
In this passage, the Pharisees were confused. They didn’t understand who Jesus was. As they were walking in and around the people, they were noticing conversations, and murmuring, and whispering about this man Jesus. There was growing interest and wonder in his teaching. Some were even calling him “Savior”. Feeling threatened by this admiration, and afraid they might lose their power, they conspired with the chief priests and sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus. Knowing they could arrest anyone breaking any of the 613 laws imposed on the Jews or simply for causing a disturbance, it certainly wouldn’t be hard to find something to arrest him for.
The chief priests and Pharisees apparently followed the guards to where Jesus was speaking. They heard him say, “You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” This confused them even more. Over-estimating their influence and power, they could not imagine there was anywhere Jesus could go that they could not exercise that authority and hunt him down.
And then they speculate that Jesus might be talking about leaving Israel. Could he “go where our people live scattered among the Greeks?” When the Jews were exiled in 722 and 586 BC, many did not return to their homeland. Some stayed in Babylon while others moved even further west into Greece. So, there were more Jews living outside of Judea and Galilee than inside. The Jews were spread among the Gentiles throughout their known world. For the Pharisees and chief priests, this was concerning. On the one hand, if he did this, Jesus would be gone, and their problem would be gone as well. But, if Jesus were to expand his influence to those outside of Israel, and even the Greeks, he could become even more significant and thus threaten their power even more.
But again, they just did not understand. Jesus was talking about something much more significant - something more “heavenly”. Jesus’ scope is much wider than Palestine or even the Roman world. Jesus was talking about returning to “the one who sent (Him).” He was talking about returning to his Father, a place that they could not go.
What do we not understand about Jesus? In what ways do we look for Jesus but not find him today? Are we looking in the wrong places?
