NOTES for Joh 7:37-53
What is most important to us in Christianity? This question arises by itself when you read lines like these from the Gospel, when you look at church divisions and scandals, when you see your own and others' misunderstanding of the Good News. The Lord speaks about things that are fundamental and common to all people - about thirst for the Spirit, without whom any religion, any society, any life becomes stuffy and stale. He speaks about the fact that faith in Him will not remain a barren, dry idea, but opens to a person access to the rivers of the living water of the Spirit. But this is not what troubles the people and the scribes. What matters more to them is an inconsistency in the origin of the potential Messiah: since He must come from the line of David, He must also live in Bethlehem.
What could the Lord object to this? Tell them about His miraculous birth in the city of David? But they do not listen to Him even when He speaks about the most important thing. How, then, can they (and sometimes we) understand His words and draw near to the life-giving element of the Spirit?