What does John 7:30 mean?

Several times in the gospel of John, Jesus escapes arrest. The Bible does not give much in the way of details—how exactly Jesus evades capture—but it does give a motivation. Jesus is obedient to God's timetable, and God's timetable is unchangeable. This is not "his hour," which in context means the moment of His ultimate sacrifice. This will come later, as acknowledged by Jesus Himself (John 17:1).

These escapes from arrest might have been through miraculous intervention, especially in moments where Jesus seems to have been physically trapped (John 10:23–24, 39). They may have been mundane, where Jesus simply slipped into the crowd and was lost (John 5:13). Speculation is fine, but at the end of the day, all we really know is that efforts thus far to bring Jesus in have failed.

It's possible that this attempt at arrest was driven by the crowd, since the next few verses mention a specific, separate order from the Pharisees (John 7:32). Jesus has just claimed to have come from God and criticized the people of Israel for not knowing God (John 7:28–29)! This would have offended more than just the religious authorities.