NOTES for Joh 7:37-53
What matters most to us in Christianity? This question arises of itself when one reads such lines from the Gospel, looks at divisions and scandals in the Church, and sees our own and others’ failure to understand the Good News. The Lord speaks of fundamental things shared by all people: of the thirst for the Spirit, without whom every religion, every society, and every life becomes stifling and insipid; and of how faith in Him will not remain a fruitless, arid idea, but opens access for a person to the rivers of the Spirit’s living water. Yet this is not what concerns the people and the scribes. For them, the inconsistency in the potential Messiah’s origins is more important: if He must come from David’s line, then He must also live in Bethlehem. What could the Lord reply? Tell them of His wondrous birth in David’s city? But they do not listen even when He speaks of what matters most! How, then, can they—and sometimes we—understand His words and draw near to the life-giving current of the Spirit?