On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out:
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me;
let him drink who believes in me.
Scripture has it:
'From within him rivers of living water shall flow.'"
(Here he was referring to the Spirit, whom those that came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit as yet, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
Some in the crowd who heard these words began to say, "This must be the Prophet." Others were claiming, "He is the Messiah." But an objection was raised: "Surely the Messiah is not to come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah, being of David's family, is to come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" In this fashion the crowd was sharply divided over him. Some of them even wanted to apprehend him. However, no one laid hands on him.
When the temple guards came back, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, "Why did you not bring him in?" "No man ever spoke like that before," the guards replied. "Do not tell us you too have been taken in!" the Pharisees retorted. "You do not see any of the Sanhedrin believing in him, do you? Or the Pharisees? Only this lot that knows nothing about the law—and they are lost anyway!" One of their own number, Nicodemus (the man who had come to him), spoke up to say, "Since when does our law condemn any man without first hearing him and knowing the facts?" "Do not tell us you are a Galilean too," they taunted him. "Look it up. You will not find the Prophet coming from Galilee."
Jesus spoke to them once again:
"I am the light of the world,
No follower of mine shall ever walk in darkness;
no, he shall possess the light of life."