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1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He wouldn’t go about in Judea, as a result of the Jews had been searching for to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Cubicles was at hand. 3 So his brothers stated to him, “Depart right here and go to Judea, that your disciples additionally might even see the works you might be doing. 4 For nobody works in secret if he seeks to be recognized overtly. For those who do this stuff, present your self to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus stated to them, “My time has not but come, however your time is all the time right here. 7 The world can’t hate you, nevertheless it hates me as a result of I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go as much as the feast. I’m not going as much as this feast, for my time has not but absolutely come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 However after his brothers had gone as much as the feast, then he additionally went up, not publicly however in non-public. 11 The Jews had been searching for him on the feast, and saying, “The place is he?” 12 And there was a lot muttering about him among the many folks. Whereas some stated, “He is an effective man,” others stated, “No, he’s main the folks astray.” 13 But for worry of the Jews nobody spoke overtly of him.
Two New Testomony students supply passage-by-passage commentary by means of the narratives of John and Acts, explaining troublesome doctrines, shedding mild on neglected sections, and making purposes to life and ministry right this moment.
Sneaking into His Personal Get together
Jesus’s brothers urge him to go to Jerusalem so his disciples and the world can see the works he does, apparently assuming that he “seeks to be recognized overtly” (John 7:4). John explains their counsel in verse 5 with the word that his brothers didn’t but consider in him.
The assertion of Jesus’s brothers might be taken in a minimum of two methods. They might be scorning and mocking Jesus in open hostility to him. Alternatively, they might be responding positively to Jesus with out understanding his agenda. They see the mighty works he does, perceive he’s the Messiah, and assume he ought to go public, as mirrored once they counsel, “For those who do this stuff, present your self to the world” (John 7:4).
This second choice appears to suit each the phrases of the brothers and what Jesus says in response. Jesus appears to talk in an explanatory tone right here, not a defensive or rebuking one. If that is appropriate—if the brothers of Jesus usually are not being derisive and hostile to him—how are we to grasp John’s remark that they weren’t believing in Jesus? It seems they don’t perceive what the indicators signify, that his hour has not but come, or what that hour will entail.
The brothers of Jesus would know the purity of his life. They might have seen the supernatural issues he was doing. They might know their standing within the line of David. They maybe understood that their brother was the long-awaited Messiah, however they shared with their contemporaries a set of improper assumptions and expectations about what he had come to do. On account of their truncated understanding of his mission—they suppose he has come to overcome somewhat than to undergo after which conquer—they offer dangerous recommendation that Jesus rejects.
If we’re appropriate up to now about Jesus’s brothers, we now have extra perception not solely into the character of their recommendation but in addition into the sense through which Jesus rejects it. Jesus’s brothers inform him to go as much as the feast (John 7:3), he says he isn’t going (John 7:8), however then he goes (John 7:10). We would suppose one thing amiss right here if we fail to grasp what the brothers are suggesting and what Jesus is saying he isn’t going to do. The brothers of Jesus appear to recommend that he ought to go as much as the feast and enter Jerusalem within the very method he’ll actually comply with when his hour comes, when the crowds wave branches of palm and cry “Hosanna!” (cf. John 12:12–15). The brothers usually are not merely suggesting that Jesus go to the feast; they’re suggesting he parade in with the streaming crowds to be celebrated in order that the motion can construct momentum.
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This understanding of what the brothers of Jesus have steered explains why Jesus solutions that his time has not but come (John 7:6), and it permits us to see no contradiction between Jesus’s saying he isn’t going as much as the feast in verse 8 and his going as much as the feast privately in verse 10. Jesus doesn’t imply he isn’t going in any respect. He means the time has not come for him to enter Jerusalem in triumph to thrill the throngs and marshal 1000’s for the taking of the dominion. Jesus doesn’t go to the feast in the way in which his brothers urge him to. They don’t consider as a result of they can’t, and so they can’t consider as a result of they don’t perceive his mission.
The Jews sought to kill Jesus (John 7:1), and his brothers didn’t perceive his function (John 7:5). If ever somebody deserved the esteem of his kinsmen, it was Jesus. If ever somebody deserved the sympathetic understanding of his members of the family, it was Jesus. Moderately than receiving what he deserves from countrymen and kinsmen, nevertheless, Jesus was met with hostility and unbelief, with improper assumptions and misguided expectations.
Jesus explains himself and solutions his brothers in verses 6–8. He states that he won’t take the unbelieving recommendation of his brothers and go as much as Jerusalem as a result of his time has not but come. Whereas his brothers can go up, the time for Jesus to take action publicly has not but arrived. That point will arrive on the triumphal entry narrated in John 12:12–19, when Jesus will declare that the hour had come (John 12:23).
Jesus additionally speaks to the hostility of those that search to kill him (John 7:1; cf. John 5:18), explaining that the world hates him “as a result of I testify about it that its works are evil” (John 7:7). Since “the Jews had been searching for to kill him” (John 7:1), when Jesus speaks of the world hating him (John 7:7), he thereby identifies the unbelieving Jews as belonging to “the world.” By his presence, by his purity, by his energy, and by his prerogative, Jesus testifies that the world’s deeds are evil. The world hates Jesus as a result of he’s the sunshine and the world loves darkness.
The brothers of Jesus had been calling for him to go public, for him to go to the feast in order that his disciples and the world may see the issues he was doing (John 7:4–5). Jesus asserted that he was not going as much as the feast in that manner for that function (John 7:8). Moderately than becoming a member of the swarming hordes coming into Jerusalem for all to see (John 7:9), Jesus went to the feast in non-public (John 7:10), avoiding those that had been keen to seek out him (John 7:11).
The assorted statements John reviews in verses 11–12 present the uncertainty of the time. On the one hand are the reviews of the mighty deeds of Jesus and what appears to be the facility of God at work, however however is the hostility of the institution. Whom ought to the folks belief? This uncertainty arose from a mixture of expectation, assumption, and concern of various teams responding to Jesus. The Jews had been disputing over whether or not he was good or a deceiver (John 7:12), however due to the intimidation of the authorities, nobody felt free to talk overtly about him (John 7:13).
How can such uncertainties be resolved? John presents the decision for us within the construction of his narrative. He lets Jesus arise and converse for himself. Those that need their uncertainty about Jesus resolved want solely to hearken to what he says.
This text is written by James M. Hamilton and is tailored from the ESV Expository Commentary: John–Acts (Volume 9).
