Everyone is looking for Jesus. For better or for worse, Jesus changed the world like no other person ever has, and everyone who’s aware of it has to have some reaction. Whether they see him as a king to be followed, a threat to be extinguished, or merely an entertaining spectacle, the whole world can’t help but be at least intrigued by the person of Jesus. Even before his crucifixion, the impact Jesus had had in Israel got the whole nation looking for him.
But Jesus made it clear that his timeline did not depend on the whims of the crowds, or even of the ruling council of the Sanhedrin. One of the most important thing Jesus did in his life, and still does at times, was to wait. Because his timing is always right, even if we don’t understand his timing yet. But no one forced Jesus to the cross; no one sidestepped the perfect will of God; Jesus made his ultimate sacrifice for humanity in his perfectly planned way, on exactly the right day.
And that day, it turned out, would be the Jewish Passover! This was the most important festival on the Jewish calendar as it commemorated the Lord’s rescue of Israel out of Egypt and celebrated God’s great love and salvation for them. On that first great Passover day, all of Israel had been spared from death because their houses were covered with the blood of the spotless lamb. Naturally, that story would be fresh on the minds of the Jews in Jersualem. The blood of Jesus, the true spotless lamb, fulfilled millennia of prior Jewish history.
At this point John’s gospel is dramatically approaching its climax. The ministry and miracles of Jesus, culminating in his raising of a dead man, had so agitated the religious leaders that a final confrontation was inevitably brewing. They were hoping to put a stop to the Jesus movement; but the Son of God was about to prove he was the Son of God, and put the Jesus movement on a track toward eternal victory. Everyone’s looking for Jesus—the real question is whether you believe that he is the Christ!
