“Who is Jesus?” is a divisive question. John’s Gospel, chapter 7, surveys a variety of opinions about who Jesus is, but not by way of offering a theological smorgasbord. Rather, the multiple answers to the question of Jesus’ identity are intended by John to have you listen to Jesus’ unique authority (“No one ever spoke the way this man does,”) and to respond as a disciple of Jesus. Jesus had come to Jerusalem in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles and had begun teaching in the Temple. Jesus made clear that he was from God: “I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (John 7:29). Speculations that he was the Christ motivated the chief priests and Pharisees to send Temple guards to arrest him (unsuccessfully, as we see).
Jesus graciously invites the thirsty to come to him and drink, promising that rivers of living water will flow from them. His hearers begin to Continue reading “Who do you think Jesus is?”