"The Jews"

8 degrees yesterday morning, so I put off my walk until afternoon when it was 42 and sunny.  And there they were, shy and sticking close to the ground, the first sign of spring in our neighborhood:  colt's foot. 

In his Gospel John often uses the term "the Jews" as shorthand to refer to the enemies of Jesus.  John himself is a Jew and most of the community for whom he is writing are Jews.  So he's not condemning the Jewish people.  He's saying in effect, "They think they're the real Jews!" the way we might say of someone whose politics we disagree with, "They think they're the real Americans."  John's usage in no way supports the anti-Semitism of Christians in the past or the present.