John 7:11-13 - Homiletics

Inquiries and speculations concerning Christ.

His entry was so private as to be almost unnoticed.

I. THE ANXIETY OF THE HOSTILE JEWS TO DISCOVER HIM . "Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?"

1 . The question may have beer, asked partly through curiosity and Tartly from hostility, for it implies that a plot already existed for his destruction.

2 . Mark the contemptuous form of the question. "Where is he?" His name is not mentioned, as if to say, "Where is this fellow?" But the very form of the question implies that he was widely known, and present to all minds at Jerusalem.

II. THE DIVERGENCE OF OPINION CONCERNING HIM AMONG THE WORSHIPPERS AT THE FEAST . "And there was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him." As if men were afraid to speak out their inward thoughts. Mark the contrast here as elsewhere between those who are drawn to him and those who are repelled from him.

1 . Mark the form of the favourable judgment upon him. "Some said, He is a good Man." They tested his principles by his deeds. As one who "went about every day doing good," he appeared as the Author of deeds that spoke of goodness and kindness and love.

2 . Mark the form of the unfavourable judgment upon him. "Others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people." He rejected Moses' Law, despised the sabbath, made himself equal with God. This judgment sets at nought the argument from Christ's personal life. It is a judgment against the facts.

3 . Mark the pressure of official opinion upon the whole people. " Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews."