Jesus spoke of going away, and His hearers answered with a question about taking His own life. Barnes admits, "It is difficult to know whether this question was asked from ignorance or malice," but thinks it "not improbable" that they asked it "with mingled hatred and contempt." Gill calls it "a wicked, but a foolish consequence, drawn from his words." Matthew Henry says it shows "What slight thoughts they had of Christ's threatenings"; they could "make themselves and one another merry with them." The joke also let them step around the warning that came with it, that they "shall die in your sins" (John 8:21).

Jesus did not answer the jab directly. He told them where the real difference lay: "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world" (John 8:23). Then He repeated His warning: "if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). He also hinted at how He would go: "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he" (John 8:28), which Barnes explains as "When you have crucified." He would not take His own life; they would lift Him up.

Barnes notes that "Self-murder was esteemed then, as it is now, as one of the greatest crimes," so the suggestion was a serious insult if they meant it in malice. Earlier, in John 7, Jesus had said almost the same words, and the people had guessed He might go "unto the dispersed among the Gentiles" (John 7:33-35). Each time they took His words in the most earthly way possible.

Jesus had already told them where He was going: "I go unto him that sent me" (John 7:33).

Jesus was going back to the Father, and only those who believe can follow Him there. He later said the same words to His disciples, "as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 13:33), but to Peter He added, "thou shalt follow me afterwards" (John 13:36). The difference was not distance but faith.

The scene also shows Jesus' patience. Barnes writes that if mockery was their meaning, "we see the wonderful patience of Jesus in enduring the contradiction of sinners; and as he bore contempt without rendering railing for railing, so should we." He kept teaching and kept warning them, because their lives were at stake (John 8:24).