Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? So, a division occurred in the crowd because of him( Jn 7:40-33).
God is good all the time.
Today's gospel details are incidental and inconsequential to our faith as Catholics; they are commentaries of people figuring out Jesus' identity, though they were witnessing the exceptional words and acts of love he brought to humankind.
These people knew that his teachings and actions pointed to nothing but elevated human love and dignity to endear humanity to God’s image, still their pride and self-delusion blocked the eyes and ears of their hearts and minds to recognize him.
Pride and closed heartedness never lead one to genuinely welcome and encounter Christ. And we should never forget as Catholics we cannot depend on the world's logic to learn and know Christ and live faithfully as his disciples. Saint Paul has taught us:
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
As Catholics, we are encouraged to place their confidence and trust in Jesus as the redeemer and high priest and live both by his logic and example. This means not misconstruing our own faith and identity as baptized Catholics but expressing together with the fathers of the church the “belief that all human activity, in daily jeopardy through pride and inordinate self-love, is to find its purification and its perfection in the cross and resurrection of Christ."