They did not know what to make of Jesus.  Nothing seemed to add up.  The religious leaders were known to have issued an arrest warrant for Him, but they did not dare to arrest Him in the temple or when He was preaching publicly (Mark 12:12).  The people wondered if the authorities had changed their opinion about Jesus, allowing Him to speak openly to crowds who had come to the Festival of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  They were awed by Jesus’ miracles, but they wrongly believed that the Messiah would be previously unknown and come in a surprising way: therefore Jesus could not be the Saviour from God.

Perhaps they had misinterpreted the ‘suddenly’ in Malachi 3:1, “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple …”.  However, the scholars knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:3-6), and Matthew understood that Jesus’ home in Galilee was prophesied in Isaiah 9:1-2.  However, because He was well-known to the people (Matthew 13:55-56), they assumed that Jesus could not be the Messiah because His coming was not sudden and dramatic.  We will all have to await the complete fulfilment of the Malachi prophecy, when Jesus comes again (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4).

But when Jesus tried to tell the crowd about His intimate relationship with Father God (John 7:14-17), and that they had no real relationship with Him, some of them became very angry and rushed to grab Him.  However, they were supernaturally restrained and could not even touch Him although He was so close.  Yet, at the same time, others believed in Him - His miracles were enough to prove that He was no ordinary man (John 14:11); He is the Holy Son of God (John 1:14-18).

Perhaps, if we had been there, we might also have been confused.  It is the same today.  Until the Holy Spirit opened our eyes, we were blind to the true identity and heavenly pre-existence of Jesus.  That is why it is essential that we share God’s Word about His Son - who Jesus is and where He came from.  Some will become angry or may ridicule us; but others will believe and put their trust in Him.  When we know we need more than ourselves - then He is the only answer.