John 7:25-27 - Here he is speaking openly

7:25,26

Apparently some of the people in Jerusalem were aware of rumours of the religious leaders wanting to kill someone. Previously people were amazed that Jesus thought people wanted to kill Him, thinking Him paranoid. Now others are amazed that the religious leaders were not making any moves to get Jesus. Jesus was speaking openly, without fear or favour, yet the authorities were taking no action. Some wondered if they had decided He actually was the Messiah! We should not be surprised that there was a diversity of views and opinions.

7:27

However, they reasoned that He could not possibly be the Messiah, for the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem (Mic 5:2). They “knew” that Jesus came from Nazareth. In fact their knowledge was lacking on a number of counts. They apparently did not know that Jesus had actually been born in Bethlehem, and, of course, Jesus came from the Father.