John 7:27

John 7:27, in plain English

The crowd talks themselves out of it. They say they know where Jesus is from, and supposedly when the Messiah comes, nobody will know His origin. So Jesus cannot be the one.

Why it's here

They had the right instinct but the wrong theology. Their assumptions about how the Messiah should arrive kept them from seeing the Messiah standing right in front of them.

Who's speaking

The Jerusalem crowd explains why they have decided Jesus cannot be the Christ.

Where it sits in the story

Sometimes what you think you know is the biggest obstacle to learning something new. The crowd had Jesus figured out, and they were completely wrong.

The scholarly reading

The crowd disqualifies Jesus based on a popular belief that the Messiah's origin would be unknown, whereas they know (oidamen) where Jesus is from, demonstrating how theological misconceptions become barriers to faith.

Language and setting

The irony is multilayered: they think they know where Jesus is from (Nazareth/Galilee), but they do not know His true origin (from the Father). Their theological assumption about messianic hiddenness was not universally held in Judaism.

Voice

The Jerusalem crowd reasons themselves away from faith based on a folk tradition about the Messiah's mysterious origin.

Significance

The crowd has just enough knowledge to be dangerous. They know where Jesus is from, geographically. But they do not know where He is really from, theologically. Partial knowledge becomes the enemy of faith.

25Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

26Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ?

27But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from.”

28Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him,

29but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

Read all of John 7 — Jesus appears at the Festival of Tabernacles and divides the crowd. Some say he's a prophet, some say he's the Messiah, and some want him arrested.