1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers believed in Him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, He remained in Galilee.
10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for Him at the feast, and saying, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much muttering about Him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, He is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of Him.
As we move from John 6 into chapter 7, there is a gap of about 6 months. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), when read alongside John’s writings, help us to put everything into some kind of timeline. This is actually an important detail, because we are now about 6 months from Jesus’ final Passover and His crucifixion.
The setting of John 6 and the feeding of the 5000 was during the previous Passover, and now we fast forward if you like, to the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles.
It’s important to understand the role of the Jewish feasts in the 1st century, because they not only help us to see the timing, but more importantly, the way John writes his Gospel reveals Jesus as the fulfilment of the feasts. The blood of the lamb at Passover is a picture of the cross, while the great celebrations of the Feast of Tabernacles is a picture of the joy we will see at the return of Jesus.
So the Jewish feasts are important in John’s Gospel, both for keeping time and for his message about Jesus. All of Jesus’ visits to Jerusalem are linked to the feasts. In chapters 2 and 3 He was in Jerusalem for the Passover. He returned in John 5 a year later, and the events of John 6 are connected to the following Passover. And now in chapter 7 we are at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Why are the feasts so important? Because they reveal part of God’s perfect timing in the earthly mission of Jesus. They were instituted some 1500 years earlier in the book of Deuteronomy, but they are crucial to the unfolding events in the 1st century.
There were three great feasts, which all Jewish men had to attend in Jerusalem each year. First, there was the Passover, which on our modern calendars occurred in March or April each year. This feast marked the start of the barley harvest and the people would look back to the exodus from Egypt and the blood of the lamb that caused God’s wrath to pass over the homes of the Israelites. 50 days later in May or June was the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. Here the offerings of the first fruits of the harvest were brought as an offering to God, and the third great feast was the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, which marked the end of the harvest season in September or October. All of these feasts and the rituals which were to be followed are established in Deuteronomy 16.
We tend to think of Passover as the most significant of the three, but for the Jews, Tabernacles was the greatest, because it represented the end of the harvest. The vast majority of people in those days worked hard. It meant physical labour, so when the harvest was finally done, for a short while at least, the people could relax and rejoice. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the people would live outside in temporary booths or shelters, as reminders to them of how God had protected their forefathers on their long journey through the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt.
If we apply this feast to the second coming of Christ, the celebration then will not be because the harvest of grain is safely in the barns as in Old Testament days, but rather the harvest of souls of God’s elect will be complete as Jesus returns for His bride, the Church. You see, all of the religious rituals of Old Testament times, as strange as they may seem at first glance, all serve the same purpose - they point us to the person and work of Jesus Christ. He not only fulfills the ancient prophecies. He fulfills the sacrificial system and all of the Jewish feasts.
Tabernacles was a great time of celebration each year, and two of the highlights of this feast was a water-pouring ceremony which we get to later in chapter 7, and a festival of lights in chapter 8. Here, Jesus identifies Himself as the Water of Life and the Light of the World - two outrageous claims which only served to deepen the hatred of His enemies.
So the Feast of Tabernacles may have been a wonderful annual celebration for most Jews, but not for Jesus in this last year of His ministry, as He knew exactly what the future held for Him. John tells us in verse 1 that “the Jews were seeking to kill Him.” These are the religious leaders, and their hatred of Him had grown to the point where there was no more pretence - they openly made it clear that they wanted Him dead.
The conversation that Jesus had with His brothers in verses 3 through 8 gives us a chilling reminder of the hardness of the human heart. Some argue that these men were just close friends or cousins of Jesus. This is taught by the Roman Catholic Church as they try to support the unbiblical doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, but the text is very clear in identifying these men as the half-brothers of Jesus. They were the natural sons of Joseph and Mary, but we’re told in verse 5 that even they didn’t believe in Him. It’s remarkable, if you think about it. They had spent their entire lives close to Jesus, yet even they didn’t believe in Him. If anything can prove the depravity of the human heart, it is this, but there was a happy ending for some, at least. Acts 1:14 lists Mary and Jesus’ brothers as being among the early believers after the resurrection. His brother James is traditionally believed to be a leader of the early Church in Jerusalem and the author of the New Testament book of James, while His youngest brother Jude wrote the letter of Jude.
But for now, as verse 5 tells us, they did not believe in Jesus, and we can see the proof in the rather strange advice they gave Him. “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (John 7:3-4)
There are differing interpretations among Bible commentators as to exactly what Jesus’ brothers meant here. Most agree that they were taunting or challenging Him, by tempting Him into a dangerous situation. We don’t know for sure, but it’s safe to assume that because they didn’t believe at the time that He was who He claimed to be, they were probably more than a little annoyed by Him, so tempting Him to expose Himself while His life was in danger might have seemed like a good idea. There is more than a little sarcasm in their words. They seem to imply that Jesus was looking for publicity. Why else was He performing all these miracles in Galilee if He didn’t want to become famous? “Now is your big chance. If you want to be famous, go and perform your miracles in Jerusalem, where you’ll be noticed.”
Whatever their motive, the worldliness of this advice is clear. If Jesus was determined to be a religious leader, He should promote Himself publicly. If Jesus wanted to impress the large crowds and encourage His supporters, what better occasion to do so than during the Feast of Tabernacles?
The attitudes of His brothers was very similar to the crowds we met in the previous chapter. The unbelieving crowd wanted worldly results, so Jesus’ unbelieving brothers gave Him worldly advice, but His reply was rather pointed. “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” (John 7:6) This is similar to His reply to Mary back in chapter 2 at the wedding in Cana. She had just asked Him to make some kind of public display of His power, but He said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4)
Again, Jesus was referring to the divine timetable given to Him by God the Father, and He would not be swayed in His determination to fulfill God’s plan. Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4-5, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” Paul is speaking here of the birth of Jesus, and in His high priestly prayer in John 17, just before going to the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1)
His brothers wanted Jesus to manifest Himself publicly in glory, but He knew that it was not yet the right time. He said in verse 5, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” This sounds rather cryptic, so what did Jesus mean?
They did not believe in Him. They were worldly in their thinking and understanding, which meant they not only had no grasp of God’s plan, but their unbelief had blinded them to the reality of just who their oldest brother was.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:2-4, “We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
So when Jesus said to His brothers, “Your time is always here,” He was talking about the futility of living for the moment. We’ve all seen the T-shirts and tattoos with the Latin phrase carpe diem, which means ‘seize the day.’ That might sound deeply philosophical and quite profound, but it’s really an empty phrase with no real meaning. The Oxford Dictionary defines it simply as an “urge to someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future.” A life lived outside of Christ is ultimately a life without any purpose or meaning.
However, a life lived in Christ is completely different. This is how Paul puts it in Ephesians 4: “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32)
This is the kind of transformed life the redeemed are supposed to live. This is how we honour God as living sacrifices, by casting off our old selves and living for Him instead. Compare this with what Jesus says to His brothers in John 7:7. “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”
The world cannot and does not hate the worldly because they belong to the world and the world loves its own. This is very different to what Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18-19. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
John MacArthur wrote in his commentary on John 7, “A true born-again believer who is living a life for God’s glory should experience the hatred and antagonism of the world.”
The text continues in verses 8-10, “‘You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.’ After saying this, He remained in Galilee. But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private.”
Some people see some kind of conflict between Jesus’ words and His actions here. It’s almost as if He was being dishonest, but of course, Jesus would never do that. John explains that Jesus was unwilling to go to this feast openly in pursuit of glory. As a Jew, He had a duty to appear in Jerusalem for this feast, but He didn’t go celebrating. Rather, He went secretly, the one who was preparing to go to the cross for the sins of the world.
Here again we see John intertwining the Jewish feasts with the timeline of Jesus’ work of redemption. Jesus didn’t seek the glory symbolised by the Feast of Tabernacles. It was not His time for that yet. First, He had to suffer as the Passover sacrifice.
What does this mean to us today? One day we will celebrate in eternity with Him, but we thank God that ours is not the time of the Passover Feast. As Christians we don’t observe the Passover, simply because Jesus suffered instead of us. We are not called to make an atoning sacrifice, because He shed His blood once for all. Our time is symbolised by the Feast of Pentecost, the era of the Church. The firstfruits have come in, but the work of harvesting - of sharing the Gospel of Christ - remains.
Jesus looked forward to His second coming in glory, but first there was the cross. We also look forward to His glorious return, but until then there is work to be done for His Kingdom. As we are reminded in Matthew 9:36-38, “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.’”
We are to be faithful in proclaiming the Gospel to the lost, living holy lives as we share the good news of salvation in Christ.
However, we must bear in mind that we are living in dark days, and as Jesus was hated then, He is hated today. The Gospel has never been a popular message, but it is the only message we have.
Verses 11-12 say, “The Jews were looking for Him at the feast, and saying, ‘Where is He?’ And there was much muttering about Him among the people. While some said, ‘He is a good man,’ others said, ‘No, He is leading the people astray.’
This is always the way of the world when it comes to Jesus. Everyone has an opinion on Jesus, because He remains the most divisive person in human history. The great challenge to us all is to move from a place of knowing about Him, to knowing Him for who He really is: The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
As we’ve seen during the past couple of weeks, John’s Gospel records a tremendous change in how Jesus was was accepted by the people. There is now an open hostility towards Him, especially among the religious authorities. The question is, why? Why was Jesus considered such a threat? He explained it when speaking to His brothers in verse 7. “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”
If you want to upset someone, tell them that they are evil. It’s guaranteed to work every time, especially in a world where we are constantly fed the lie that we are actually good people. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19)
We mustn’t be fooled into thinking that the world admires the holiness of Christ. The exact opposite is true, because His holiness and His perfect life exposes just how dark and how evil our lives really are.
This is why there is such a hatred of Jesus Christ today. It’s almost impossible to watch a movie nowadays without His name being openly blasphemed and ridiculed. The lie of evolution is being taught to our children as a scientific fact. Above all else, the world hates the cross of Christ, and the reason is that the cross condemns all man-made religions. That God had to send His own Son to the cross to bear the cost of our sin offends our pride, because it proclaims the horror of our sin. This is why the Jewish leaders, like many people today, hate Jesus: “because I testify about it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7)
As we’ve seen, especially in the last 20 or so years, there has been a deliberate and methodical rejection of the Christian faith and all it stands for. Lifestyle choices which not long ago were quite correctly regarded as sinful and immoral are not only accepted now, but are regarded as something to be promoted and celebrated. One of the country’s top “Christian” girls’ schools not far from here has been so deceived by this insanity, that they will soon have gender neutral bathrooms.
Why is all of this happening? It has nothing to do with tolerance and acceptance in our progressive, modern world. It is because the world hates Jesus Christ. Holy lives expose the evil of this world, and those who reject Jesus hate His Gospel the most. John 15:19 again - “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
What matters most is not what the non-believing world tries to force us to believe. What matters is what you think of Jesus Christ. As He said to Peter, “What about you? Who do you say I am?”
Some say He is a good man, but they refuse to confess their sin and come to Him in faith. There are others, among them some high-profile atheists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry who reject Him as a deceiver, who leads people astray in a fanatical religion.
So how do we remain faithful to the Gospel in the midst of all this opposition, ridicule and hatred? Jesus, when He sent His apostles into the world, told them about the persecution they will face. “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:16-20)
By God’s grace, we have not faced that kind of persecution yet, but there are no guarantees. What we do know is that being faithful to Jesus is going to become harder, not easier, so we need to heed the warning we see in John 7:13. “For fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of Him.” The challenge to us today is clear. Are we going to fear God, or are we going to fear man?
We close with these words of encouragement the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Church nearly 2000 years ago, but they are so relevant to us today. “Let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake.” (Philippians 1:27-29)
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 7:1-13
Bearing in mind what we’re told about the lack of faith of Jesus’ brothers in verse 5, what do you think their real intentions are in verses 3 and 4?
Discuss Jesus’ answer to them in verse 6.
What does He mean by saying, “For you any time is right?” How do His brothers’ attitudes reflect the non-believing world today?
Why do you believe there is so much hatred for Jesus Christ in the world today?
(His words in verse 7 may help.)
Discuss the apparent conflict between Jesus’ words in verse 8, and His actions in verse 10. Why did Jesus go to the Feast of Tabernacles in secret?
Verse 12 also perfectly captures the non-believing world’s opinions of Jesus.
This puts the Church in the spotlight, as we are called to accurately and faithfully share the Gospel message.
How do we avoid being fearful of the world as we share the good news? (See verse 13)