The people answered, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? — the crowd denies that anyone is trying to kill Jesus, attributing his claim to demonic possession (daimonion, demon). The crowd appears not to know of the authorities' death plots (mentioned earlier in the chapter and in 5:18), or they deny them publicly out of fear. The accusation of demon-possession is the world's standard dismissal of claims it finds threatening or unintelligible. Yet Jesus's next statement (7:21-24) will provide evidence that someone indeed seeks to kill him (the authorities).

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse