John 7:1-13 The beginning of the end
Chapter 7 marks a distinct turn in John’s narrative. So far we have established that Jesus is the promised Messiah in his manhood and Creator God in his Godhood. In his actions we see both humanity and divinity. Humanity as in when he sat down to rest by the well near Sychar and divinity in demonstrations of power over man and nature. At the beginning of this chapter we are brought forward in time to about six months before the cross. The rest of the book concerns the events and teachings that immediately precede the cross.
From the events of chapter 6 until about seven months later when the Feast of Tabernacles approached Jesus remained in Galilee north of Judea. Although John skips this block of time for his own purposes the other gospel writers give us some of the events that occurred. Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9 record the Transfiguration. Matthew and Mark record Jesus feeding the four thousand. And there are many healings and teachings from this time related by the Synoptic gospels.
The synoptic gospels relate several interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees during this time. What John points out is that Jesus is on a specific timetable to do a specific act and was working events in a very Godlike way to bring things to a head at exactly the right moment. Jesus wasn’t afraid of the Jews. Rather he stayed in Galilee to complete the work his Father had appointed.
When the feast of Tabernacles came around (Feast of Tabernacles Leviticus 23:33-43) Jesus’ brothers advised him to go to Jerusalem. They had seen the miracles and heard the teaching but they could not imagine that their brother was God’s messiah. Jesus listened to them but did not take their advice because they were wrong about who Jesus’ disciples were and they were wrong about Jesus’ motivations. The ‘in crowd’ in Judea were never going to learn from Jesus. They ranged from curious to furious but not believing, not faithful, not sincere, except in opposition. Jesus’ brothers were also wrong to impute their own idea of ambition to Jesus’ actions. As it says in Isaiah 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Jesus’ reply to them contained a stinging indictment. They were free to go with the crowd because they presented no threat, nor gave any rebuke to the entrenched evil of their society. Merely pointing out evil as evil is enough to raise the wrath of evildoers. This demonstrates the weak position of evil. Evil resorts to all kinds of tactics to avoid being named for what it is. As soon as light is shined on it, it is revealed as repulsive, repugnant, empty and lifeless. It is death.
After his brothers left, Jesus went up to the feast quietly, biding his time. The Jewish leaders were on the lookout for him, with murder in their hearts. (Read Proverbs 1:28-33) The crowd engaged in the kind of spectator gossiping that crowds often do when they are curious but not engaged. They had a divided opinion about Jesus. The red team thought Jesus was a good man but the blue team thought Jesus was a deceiver. Has the world’s conversation about Jesus advanced much in two thousand years? They were both wrong.
However, none of this speculation was done publicly because even the possibility that Jesus is the Messiah was not enough to risk even the disapproval of the leaders. Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Jesus had tried to tell them, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt 10:28. Later the Apostle John wrote, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18.
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