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? V. 36. What manner of saying is this that He said, Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
The Jews again did not understand the Savior. Their minds were so steeped in their carnal understanding of the teaching which they usually heard that they had lost the ability to penetrate into spiritual matters. They foolishly conjectured that His going away meant that He intended to visit the Jews that lived in the so-called Diaspora, in other countries outside of Palestine, in Egypt, Asia Minor, and elsewhere, and that He probably would try to have the Gentiles accept His doctrine, since He had such little success with His own countrymen.
Their entire talk was intended as mockery, but it proved to contain a grain of truth, and was in a manner of speaking prophetical. It actually did happen as the Jews here jeeringly intimated. Since they rejected the Word of salvation, the Lord turned to the Gentiles and issued to them the full and free call to redemption in His blood. And as for these scoffers, they soon found out, they and their children, that God is not mocked.