I think JJ might have wanted to set Finn up as being Force-sensitive in TFA (what with him being the first to see the Starkiller beam, great disturbance, etc, etc), and now he’s trying to build on it but it seems weird because TLJ totally sidestepped the idea.
EDIT: that’s exactly what you just said, isn’t it. I just finished my finals for my first semester of grad school and I did a fair amount of celebrating, my reading comp isn’t the best at the moment.