John 7:35

These words baffle the crowd. “Where can he go that we cannot find him?” they comment amongst themselves. “Do you believe he plans to leave Judea, live amongst and actually teach the Greeks?” John 7:35 EFP 

Here we go again. The people have no clue. Jesus makes a spiritual statement and they interpret it literally. Perhaps they are initially thinking, “Well, we found him today. Why will we not be able to find him again?” Little did they know how implausible and impossible it would be for them to actually find him after his death on the cross. The statement is most likely delivered in a mocking tone.

But even now their bigotry and narrow-mindedness permeates their conversation. The only place where they could not find him would be the place to which they refuse to go – the land of the Gentiles, here referred to as the Greeks. No self-respecting Jew would ever speak of going to the land of the Greeks. They were infidels. They were evil-doers. The beauty of this statement saturated with sarcasm is that is closer to reality than they realize. The Kingdom Jesus had come to establish would soon spill over the Jewish borders and envelope the Greeks, the Romans, and the entire Gentile world. Jesus, through his disciples, will literally leave Palestine and live among the Greeks—and believe it or not, actually teach them about the Kingdom of God. Inconceivable! Jesus actually did what these people considered below them. Jesus came to seek and save the ones considered untouchable by the sanctimonious of all the ages. That’s how he found me.