John 7:35
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
The saying was spoken during the feast at Jerusalem, when spies watched Jesus and priests and rulers kept seeking to silence Him and bring Him low before the crowd. On the opening day they questioned His right to teach, turning the issue toward their own standing as authorities. Again and again His opponents attempted to seize Him or stone Him, yet He withdrew from them until He was out of their sight. His acts of mercy and His instruction moved the multitudes, and even the officers dispatched to take Him, so that the authorities answered by threatening with removal from the synagogue all who put faith in Him.
When He spoke of going away, His hearers failed to grasp that He meant returning to the One who had sent Him, and imagined instead that He spoke of joining the Jews dispersed among the Gentiles and instructing Gentiles. The question about the dispersed among the Gentiles and teaching Gentiles was put by the leaders in scorn toward His words. In that scorn they unwittingly outlined His true work, for after stretching out His hands to a disobedient people He would be found by those who had not looked for Him and made known to those who had not invoked His name.