NOTES for Joh 7:19-20
Speaking about the fact that they want to kill Him, Jesus has in mind not only the specific situation that was before the eyes of those listening to Him at that moment. He was speaking about His ministry as a whole. And about the attitude toward this ministry not only of those who heard Him at that particular moment, but also of all those who considered themselves zealots of orthodoxy. Of course, on the very day when He said these words, no one was in fact going to kill Him. But Jesus understands: what He is doing can either be accepted or rejected. There is no middle ground here. But if one rejects it, then only together with Him. And that means those who reject it will have to try to get rid of Him. To kill Him.
They have no other way out: rejection of His words and of Himself must be carried through to the end, just as acceptance of both must be. Because this is not about a new teaching or even a new religion. It is about a new reality that He brought into the world. One can reject religions and ignore their adherents. One can refuse to share a teaching and pay no attention to its followers. But it is impossible to pay no attention to the reality of the Kingdom, to ignore it completely. Or rather, it would be possible only if one could somehow get rid of that reality.
And the first thing that comes to mind is to get rid of the One who brought this new reality into the world. Because here there is a conflict that cannot otherwise be resolved. Jesus describes the problem very precisely when He compares healing on the Sabbath with circumcision on that same day. The first is unacceptable, the second is entirely acceptable. Although circumcision is only a sign of the covenant being made with God, a tradition that carries no spiritual component in itself, but only points to it, like any sign.
But here religion has made this sign and its acceptance into a ritual prescription. And the Sabbath prohibitions also over time became ritual prescriptions, losing their original meaning: to give a person the opportunity to spend the Sabbath day in rest, so that inner quiet might be added to outward stillness. Here there are two rituals, and the collision proved quite resolvable. But healing on the Sabbath is a return to the spiritual foundations.
To the original meaning of the Sabbath, for its original meaning is precisely to spend the day with God. And here is healing, the manifestation of God's power and His Kingdom. And this is what turns out, for the zealots of orthodoxy, to be a violation of the religious norm. This conflict is truly irresolvable. Here one must choose: either religious ritual or the Kingdom. And if ritual, then the Kingdom must be gotten rid of. As must the One who brought it into the world. That is why they want to kill Him, sometimes without even realizing it. And He knows this. But such is His earthly path.