Jesus raised more questions than He answered. Questions swirled around Him like bees around a hive. He spoke in parables and this raised many questions. He spoke in metaphors and this raised even more. He said things like, “Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you.” Huh? “It took 46 years to build this temple and you said if it was destroyed You could raise it up in three days?” Aside from the things He said, He was a mysterious person who did unusual things… on the wrong day! Questions to Him were countless. Questions concerning Him were just as numerous. The people talked among themselves trying to figure out who He was, where He had come from and where He was going. There were speculations galore.
In this passage we have questions and answers. Most of the questions were unanswered and the answers were speculations. “Truly this is the Prophet.” Moses had predicted a prophet like unto himself would one day appear. They reasoned that this Prophet would be the Lord Himself (Deut.18:15-16). “Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’” But they were confused because they thought He was from Galilee and no prophet had been predicted to come out of Galilee. They didn’t know He was actually born in Bethlehem, in fulfillment of prophecy.
“So there was a division among the people because of Him.” The first thing God did in the first creation was divide the night from the day, so God is good at dividing. Jesus always brings divisions. He said, “I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (Mt.10:35-36) Do not be surprised if that happens in your own life among your family and friends. In fact, you can pretty well expect it. Just don’t be discouraged by it.
The powers that be sent officers to arrest Jesus and when they came back without Him they asked, “Why have you not brought Him?” They responded, because “No man ever spoke like this man!” They were right. “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” (Mt.7:28-29) He never said, “Thus says the Lord,” only, “I say to you…”
What He said then astounded people and has continued to do so for the last 2,000 years. Let’s look at some of the things He said. Read these out loud for they were spoken.
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