John 7.2-9

John 7:2-9

2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. 3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4 “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him. 6 So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. 7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. 8 “Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” 9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.

It must have been very strange for the brothers of Jesus to grow up with Jesus as an older brother.  We don’t know much about the childhood of Jesus, but what we do know demonstrates that He was not typical child, but that He was focused on the will of the Father.  He was not typical because He did not sin, but other than that it seems He lived a fairly typical life until He began His public ministry.  Then He began to teach controversial things and perform miracles while claiming to be Messiah.  This not only brought ridicule to Jesus; it must have brought harsh criticism to the entire family.  This, likely, strained the relationship from His brother’s perspective.  We know that at least two of His brothers became believers and wroth the books of James and Jude, but at this point in time they do not believe.  Today’s text gives us a glimpse into the dynamics of that relationship.

JESUS WAS NOT CONCERNED WITH HIS POPULARITY: The Feast of Booths was a festive time of year that occurred at harvest time.  The people would gather and “camp out” in temporary shelters that reminded them of the nation’s history of living in tents as they traveled through the wilderness.  There was an abundance of food from the harvest and celebration as they looked to the future fulfillment of God’s promise to liberate the nation from oppression through Messiah.  The family was preparing to go to this festival and the brothers were urging Jesus to go to Judea and perform miracles that would increase His popularity.  There is clearly a tone of sarcasm in what they are saying because they don’t believe He is Messiah and they are not sure what to make of the tales of miracles they have heard about.  In their minds, they are saying that if you are who you say you are than leave the anonymity of Galilee and go take advantage of the multitude at the festival in Judea to “launch” your popularity.  They may have been jealous of Jesus or they may have been hoping to benefit from this campaign, or they may have been trying to get rid of Him.  Jesus had never been concerned with His popularity with the multitudes, His focus was on doing the will of the Father.

JESUS WAS CONCENTRATED ON HIS PRIORITY: Jesus lived a very intentional life.  He had a mission to fulfill and was constantly working to accomplish that will as His ultimate priority in life.  He would eventually go to Judea, but not to please or entertain the crowds.  He would go quietly and eventually He would go to the cross.  However, this was not the time to complete that phase of the mission on which the Father had sent Him.  He was aware of the worlds hatred of Him and the suffering He would have to face.  He was also aware of the promises of the Father and the fact that He would one-day reign supreme in all the earth.  However, that day was not yet here.  He urges His brothers to take advantage of the opportunity they had to believe and tells them to go ahead to Judea to celebrate the feast.  He stayed in Galilee for a while because it was the Father’s will and that was His priority.  We must never allow fame or the opinions of men to distract us from the will of God.  His will must take precedence over our will.  Even though people may persecute us or reject our message, our job is to continue proclaiming the truth and urging others to believe. 

APPLICATION: Don’t allow the opinions of the crowds to become a motivating factor in life.  God’s will must be our first priority.  Pray for those who have rejected Christ to place their faith in Him and believe while there is still time.