The Tension Between Control & Truth (John 7:25-52)
The Dissidents Guide to John, Part 12
Today we are in John 7:25-52 as we finish out chapter 7.
John 7:37-41, 44.
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?…Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.The New International Version (Jn 7:37-41, 44). (2011). Zondervan.
A Festival of Confusion
So Jesus went to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, called Sukkot, which is a festival that takes place in the fall and consists of seven days of remembering how God sustained His people in the wilderness. The people built little huts—rickety shelters made from branches and leaves—and lived in them for a week. It was a tactile reminder of life during their wilderness wandering, a way to feel what it’s like to be vulnerable again. No roof. Just sky. Wind sneaking in through the walls.
The lessons of the festival were built into the structure itself:
Remember how the Lord provided in the wilderness.
Remember how, when we followed God’s instructions, our needs were met.
Remember to trust the ways of God, not the ways of other lands and kings.
During this feast, the people prayed for living water, which was a way of saying flowing, moving, fresh water. The kind that is cool and clean, water that gives and sustains life. And on the final day, when festival energy was at its peak, a priest would descend from the Temple to the Pool of Siloam with a golden pitcher, draw water, and return to the altar while a procession followed—shofars blaring and crowds singing Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation!”
The priest would circle the altar seven times, then pour the water into a silver basin. Another priest would pour wine into a second basin. Water and wine ran down together beneath the altar, flowing together as a sincere “thank-you” to God for the rains of the past year, and a cry for the rains to come.
As this was happening, the crowd grew thunderous; with every eye fixed on the priest—pouring the water from the golden pitcher onto the altar. One rabbi said that if you’ve never seen the joy of this water-pouring ceremony, you’ve never truly seen joy.
Then, at the peak of the excitement, Jesus does something...:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out,
Amid all the spectacle —Jesus stands up and yells. Not quietly. Not politely. He interrupts the entire scene with a cry that cuts through the noise. He yells out:
‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ (John 7:37–38)
The people are stunned. Some say he’s a prophet. Others call him the Messiah. Some shake their heads. The crowd fractures in real time.
The Divided Crowd
The rest of the chapter is filled with debate about who Jesus is. Is he a prophet? Is he a grifter? Does he have the approval of the Temple leaders? Or is he some sort of wandering heretic?
What’s fascinating about John’s gospel is the kind of perspective it gives the reader. You’re not stuck in one viewpoint. You see the crowd and are even able to hear their thoughts. The reader receives a superpower; the ability to know who believes, who doubts, who stays silent, and who’s already making moves to get Jesus arrested. The narrative is laced with tension, and the text lets you feel it.
You see the fault lines open across seven types of people:
The Divided Crowd: Some call him good. Others say he’s a deceiver. Nobody’s sure, and most of them are afraid to speak too loudly (John 7:12–13).
Secret Believers: Those who believe but stay quiet. They don’t want trouble. They don’t want to lose their place. They wait (John 7:13, 31).
The Religious Leaders: Outraged and threatened. They try to arrest him. They mock anyone drawn to him. They’ve decided already (John 7:32, 45–47).
The Conflicted: Temple guards and even Nicodemus are moved by Jesus’ words. They don’t act against him. But they also don’t follow him—yet (John 7:46, 50–51).
The Skeptics: They reject him outright because he’s from Galilee. They’re operating on bad information, but it doesn’t matter. The conclusion is already locked in (John 7:41–42).
Typical Times
What’s happening in John 7 is helpful as a lens for the world we presently inhabit.
The confusion, the misinformation, the tribalism—it’s all here, too. John’s gospel opens that world up to us, lays it bare, and says “Look closely, watch what happens when Jesus steps into the center of it.”
At the heart of this passage is the tension between control and truth. The system is cracking. The leaders are scrambling to do damage control because Jesus is becoming a threat to their power.
But Jesus doesn’t try to out-argue them.
He just keeps stepping into the center, again and again, saying: “Come to me.”
John’s Gospel doesn’t resolve the confusion. It lets you sit in it. It shows you all the angles. All the opinions. All the misunderstandings and manipulations.
But it also doesn’t leave you stranded.
It gives you a thread to hold onto: Jesus is the one who brings life, move towards him and you will find it!
Here is where this passage connects with us: we all know people from each of these categories.
~ We ALL know someone who has chosen to believe lies about someone because they have hatred in their heart toward them.
~ We ALL know someone who knows the truth but is too afraid to say it.
~ We ALL know someone who has already decided the facts that fit their narrative, and they are immovable in their ideology.
So where do we look? What do we do? How do we respond?
Simply put, we go to Jesus. We look at Him, and we look at them and we ask “how much of him is in them?”
Are my leaders doing the same thing Jesus would do?
Are my leaders asking me to bless and take part in the same thing Jesus would bless and take part in?
Are my leaders being loving? Peaceful? Christlike?
In the middle of chaos—religious or political or cultural—the voice of Jesus doesn’t sound like coercion. It doesn’t sound like power-grabbing. It doesn’t shame. It doesn’t exclude or divide. It heals. It frees. It brings people together.
If it doesn’t look like that, it isn’t of him.
There’s no shortage of noise these days. Headlines. Algorithms. Comment sections. Infighting. Culture wars. Manufactured outrage. Competing versions of reality. Most of it designed to keep people disoriented. Angry. Distrustful. Loyal to their team.
But John’s Gospel isn’t trying to get you to pick a side. It’s inviting you to see clearly. To notice when something carries the scent of Jesus—and when it doesn’t.
Because if it doesn’t look like him, if it doesn’t sound like him, if it doesn’t bring life the way he does, then no matter how loud it gets… it’s not the voice to follow.