John Chapter 7
And now, we see a turning point In Jesus’ “Career”. At first
accepted as a good teacher and perhaps a wise man,
Jesus has demonstrated and discussed his deity and his role
with the Jews and this has caused division, as the truth
will often do. It’s easy to gain great crowds and
amass great influence when you speak in generalities and all
positives. You will gain great appeal by appealing to
everyone and offending no one, but this is not the way of
God. God tells the truth, and the truth offends. Many people
think that the gospel is solely about peace and it should
not cause any upset, or any consternation. But let’s hear
what the Prince of Peace says.
In Matthew 10 Jesus states:
| 34 “Do not think that I
came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to
bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set
a man against his father, a daughter against her
mother, and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be
those of his own household.’[e] 37 He who loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not
worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross
and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who
finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his
life for My sake will find it. |
Truly He is a Loving and peaceful God,
but He is also a Just and righteous God. And if you are
going to worship Him, you must worship Him in Spirit and in
truth (John 4).
So let us pick up the study. Jesus has
seen half of his followers fall away in dismay at the truth
He has told and he knows that the time of His sacrifice is
coming….but not yet.
1
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not
want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.
The Jews referred to here are the
Pharisees and the Sadducee’s. The leadership to the Jews to
whom Jesus was the biggest threat. They too were faced with
a choice. They could bow down to the truth before them and
give up their power, or they could kill the truth.
2 Now the
Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
The Feast of Tabernacles was took place
at harvest time and lasted 8 days, while it does not have an
intense “holy” meaning like Passover, it was a time of
getting together and sharing for the Jewish people.
3 His
brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go
into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that
You are doing. 4
For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to
be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to
the world.” 5
For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
The word brother here refers to any
number of kin relations. Brother, uncles cousins
et all. His brothers were looking to get a boost from
Jesus’ appearance. He was news and they were looking for
angles. They knew he did miracles, and perhaps they
could profit from that at this feast. They did not yet
believe that He was the Christ…..this was their older
brother….not something sent from God. Later at least
some of them would believe and His half brother James would
lead the Jerusalem Church
6 Then Jesus
said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is
always ready.
The time was evil, with evil intents and
so were His brethren. (Brother can’t even get a little
home love)
7 The world
cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it
that its works are evil.
The world (that being the population of
the earth without faith in Jesus) is inherently evil
and it hates Him, and it will hate you because of Him. If
you have someone who has given you a hard time because of
your faith, then you are doing it right brothers and
sisters.
8You go up to
this feast. I am not yet
going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.”
Jerusalem was going to be the place of
Jesus’ death and He knew it was coming, but not yet. That
time was about six months away at Passover.
9 When He had
said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.
For a little while, anyway
10 But when
His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast,
not openly, but as it were in secret.
Interesting that at this point there
seems to be no following of disciples. I don’t know the
explanation but it is interesting
11 Then the
Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?”
12 And there
was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some
said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He
deceives the people.”
Jesus was the buzz of the feast of
tabernacles. Word of His words and His miracles had filtered
through the land and they were talking about Him, as people
do.
13 However,
no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
For fear of the Jews…. For fear of
what people will think For fear of what people
will say. These people were in no danger because of talking
about Jesus. Only Jesus was in danger. And yet the people
were afraid to discuss him openly because of social
rejection.
It’s amazing how little has changed in
the human condition in 2000 years
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