A split sentence defines two chapters

“Then each went to his own house, (John 7:53)
while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (John 8:1)”

The activity of going homes seems to be an unnecessary and normal happenstance to bring up. Until we hear in the next chapter that Jesus doesn’t go home. The second half of the sentence explains the connection of one sentence ending and starting two different chapters. 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray.

Image of Gethsemane  by Heather Truett

Jesus' focus on the Mount of Olives

By John Pearring


https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032021.cfm
Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:40-53


The ending verse in today’s gospel seems like a complete throwaway comment. “Then each went to his own house.” It is a rather odd way to end a chapter in scripture. The verse, though, isn’t accidental. 

The final verse of Chapter 7 is a transition into Chapter 8. Two things happen during this transition. One is rather mundane, and the other is significant.

The Pharisees going off to their own houses in the evening isn’t a noteworthy spiritual insight until you see that Chapter 7’s final verse isn’t a complete sentence. The sentence finishes at the beginning of the next chapter.

“Then each went to his own house, (John 7:53)
while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (John 8:1)”

The activity of Pharisees going off to their own homes seems unnecessary to bring up. In the scriptures, anyway. Until we hear in the next chapter that Jesus doesn’t go home. The second half of the sentence explains the connection. Jesus often went to the area of Mt. Olive to pray. He conversed with his Father there, often long into the night. After Jesus’ prayer at the Mount of Olives in John’s Chapter 8, Jesus returned to the Temple the very next day. 

Monumental things happen at the Mount of Olives throughout all of scripture.

Jesus’ ministry was one of danger, controversy, confrontation, and divine intervention. The attacks upon Jesus’ presence in the world ratcheted up intensely over the time of Chapter 7 right through to the end of the Book of John. Throughout that tension and prayer Jesus is found heading for, being at, or leaving the Mount of Olives. Scripture identifies the Mount of Olives as a place of respite, prophecy, and pivotal moments in Jesus’ life. Later in the gospel reporting, Jesus visits the Mount of Olives three times in final week of his life.

The first of those visits was the start of Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem on a donkey. His second visit there is covered in Matthew and Luke where Jesus delivers the Olivet Discourse. That’s when Jesus prophesied his second coming. And the third visit was the prayer at Gethsemane, which is on the Mount of Olives. John records a long discourse before the Gethsemane event where Jesus was arrested. That discourse is on the long hike into the Gardens. 

Jesus visits the Mount of Olives one more time, after his crucifixion and resurrection. After leading his apostles and displays to the Mount Jesus ascended into Heaven. This is a most important place, because Jesus’ return is also predicted to take place at the Mount of Olives.

So, at Chapter 7’s time in Jesus’ ministry, what major shift begins in Jesus' ministry? Jesus is just beginning a long stretch of miracles and encounters at the Temple in Jerusalem. He was in Galilee before he entered the Temple. He responded to questions about going to the Jewish Feasts by explaining that he would not travel into Jerusalem and go to the Temple until the time was right. He knew he was to be killed. 

His brothers were with him there in Galilee, and among the most vocal about Jesus going to Jerusalem. These are his relatives, noted by scholars as his cousins. They did not yet believe Jesus was the Messiah. Their skepticism was harsh. While the Jewish feast was drawing folks to Jerusalem, the brothers prodded Jesus to go to there and convince his disciples that he was who he said he was. His family said that by facing the religious authorities Jesus’ followers would be convinced of his powers.  

“No one works in secret if he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world.” John 7:4.

The mocking tone of his relatives must have been very painful to hear. Jesus, however, held fast that he would only go to Jerusalem when it was his time. 

“My time is not yet here, but the time is always right for you. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify to it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, because my time has not yet been fulfilled.”

Following this part of Chapter 7 we get another of these transition sentences:

“After he had said this, he stayed on in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but [as it were] in secret.” (John 7:6-8)

He did go after all, but not as you would think. Jesus kept hidden for awhile when at the Feasts. Devout Jews were urged to attend all the Jewish feasts. Jesus was devout, so he wasn't about to forgo his duty. He wouldn't, though, be pushed into being a performing act.

Chapter 7 ends with the chief priests and Pharisees adding to Jesus’ family's derisive pressures. The religious men castigated the temple guards for failing in their task to corral Jesus and bring him to the Sanhedrin, the legal congress of the Jews. After a kerfuffle over the guards admiration for Jesus, the Pharisees embark on their own cancel culture activities by forbidding anyone to believe a prophet can come out of the land of Galilee.

Upon this challenge, Jesus shifts gears, no longer remaining hidden. This is the Chapter 7-8 transition. Over the next several chapters Jesus’ miracles and teachings are recounted. It was his time to preach openly, but not his time yet to be arrested. 

“So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.” (John 7:30)

His hour, of course, was to be his crucifixion. It would not happen until he and the Father allowed it.

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