Some commentators on John’s Gospel that we read from the end of Lent into the Easter season put quotation marks around “the Jews” to indicate a need to interpret this term properly. Who are “the Jews” John speaks of in his gospel? The term describes different groups of Jews in Jesus’ time. 

First,  Jesus himself was a Jew who loved his people and their traditions. His mother Mary and Joseph were Jews. Most of his followers were Jews, and so they belong in John’s category  “the Jews”. 

“The Jews” Jesus argues with in our readings from John’s Gospel are the Pharisees and their allies, the scribes. They’re often described in the gospels as hostile to Jesus, but not all of them are. 

The Pharisees were members of a lay movement that arose in Judaism a few centuries before the time of  Jesus. Reacting against Jewish leaders they saw as corrupt collaborators with foreign invaders like the Greeks and the Romans, the Pharisees started a religious revival based on the Mosaic law and traditions.  They were popular among the people.

The Pharisees and scribes strongly kept the law and Jewish interpretation of tradition, however. In John’s Gospel, Jesus goes beyond Moses and the prophets. “Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” (John 8:29) That was blasphemy to the Pharisees. 

They are “the Jews” opposing Jesus  John describes in our readings this week.

Besides the Pharisees and scribes, there were the Sadducees, the Jewish ruling class holding  political power in Jerusalem and allied to the Romans. They mostly opposed Jesus. They controlled the temple, the center of Jewish worship in Jerusalem,  and when Jesus taught in the temple and performed miraculous works in the Holy City, they saw a threat to political stability and possible revolution..

Then, there were the Herodians–– followers of Herod Antipas, the politically sensitive ruler of parts of Palestine. They also took steps to eliminate Jesus. 

Lke the Pharisees and scribes, some of these Jewish leaders, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, saw Jesus in another light. 

Some of the followers of Jesus, “Jews”, will abandon him this week. 

In Holy Week , the Jewish leaders like the priests Annas and Caiphas, anxious about the future of Jerusalem and their nation take action against Jesus, along with some Pharisees.  They approach Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who has the power to put him to death. 

There is another group John sees as “the Jews” we should not forget. They are the inhabitants of Jerusalem and pilgrims come up to Jerusalem for the feast or others living in the city. They wait and see.  We should not forget them. We hear their voices as we celebrate the mystery of the Passion of Jesus in Holy Week.,