Though many of the Jewish pilgrims in the temple courtyard did not realize how antagonistic the religious leaders were to Jesus ( John 7:20), some of the locals did. They marveled that Jesus was speaking out publicly and the authorities were not opposing Him. They expected that if Jesus were a deceiver they would lock Him up, but if He was the Messiah they would acknowledge Him as such. The authorities acted as they did because they feared the people. The situation led some of the locals to suspect that the leaders might really believe that Jesus was the Messiah. [source][source][source]