Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles
7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. 2 But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus had been in Judea previously at another feast, probably the Passover (5:1). Tabernacles was a memorial of the people’s time in the wilderness during the exodus, and was celebrated every year for a week in October (15th to 22nd of the month of Tishri). It was also a thanksgiving festival for the grain, fruit and especially grapes after the harvest. All of the men were required to attend; they camped outside the walls of Jerusalem in tents or booths.
John tells us that Jesus’ brothers were not believers at this time. At least two of them, James and Jude, would become believers and even leaders in the church after his resurrection (Jude 1, James 1:1). This is one of the many points in John’s gospel that a forger would have omitted; since James became the bishop or leading pastor of the church in Jerusalem, it could not have been a very flattering thing to point out that he was still an unbeliever not even six months before Jesus’ crucifixion. But John the Apostle knew it was true, and in fact by the time John wrote this, that same James had been martyred, thrown, we are told, by the chief priests from the same point of the temple from which Jesus was tempted by the devil to throw himself (Luke 4:9).
Here Jesus’ brothers were egging him on, mocking him because the numbers of his followers were dwindling so miserably. Before the Passover of this year, he had at least 72 trained men to send on preaching trips (Luke 10:1, 17). Now, did he have many more than his twelve apostles? “No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret,” they sneered. If he went with the crowds into Judea, would he find any more “followers”? Or would he perhaps perform some more miracles to catch the people’s attention?
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. 8 You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.” 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. (NIV)
Jesus wasn’t going to do anything just because his brothers prodded him. He wanted them to go (it was their duty to go), but he would go later and do what he had to do. The time was approaching, and Jesus was making sure that the sacrifice of his own life would come at just “the right time.”
That’s something that transcends my understanding. God was planning his own death; his own horrifying execution, for me. But I don’t have to understand it; I just believe it, because his forgiveness covers my sins and his love endures forever.
Something Extra:
Philemon 7-9a
7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.
The reason that this passage is in the Bible is that the Apostle Paul is letting the reader (a man named Philemon) know that the things he has done for the sake of the church haven’t gone unnoticed. Philemon was a man with some money. He even owned slaves. In his day, slaves were not people who were kidnapped; they had become slaves in other ways (prisoners of war, political prisoners, or enslavement because of debt). The Bible never says that owning slaves is a good thing. But there are rules in both the Old and the New Testaments for how a person who owned slaves should treat them. See Ephesians 6:9.
The Christian church in the city of Colosse didn’t meet in a special church building. The people came to Philemon’s house, and there in the inner courtyard they worshiped God, and listened to Paul, Luke (Colossians 4:14), or other traveling preachers in addition to their own pastors, Epaphras (Colossians 4:12-13) and Archippus (Colossians 4:17).
Philemon used whatever he had to “refresh the hearts of the saints.” (In the Bible, “saints” refers to believers who are living, not to the honored dead; cf. Daniel 7:25; Acts 9:13; Romans 16:15, etc.). That refreshment begins with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That’s the gospel message that takes us right to the cross, as Jesus was lifted up into the air, just high enough so that his feet didn’t touch the ground. Just high enough so that he would die the excruciating drowning death of being able to inhale, but not exhale. Jesus’ lungs slowly filled up with fluid as he hung there, and as his breath left him, the sins of the world bore down on his shoulders, and we killed him. The burden of our sins drew the blood from the wounds in his head, hands and feet. The crushing weight of the whole planet pressed down on him and blotted out his life.
But his life was enough; enough for the sins of the whole world. His death brought us forgiveness. His death brought us peace. There is no love that brings us more joy and encouragement that that love. That is the love that God has for us, the love that has brought us peace; the love that has given us the promise of eternal life.
Trust in that love from God.
Love divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down,
Fix in us your humble dwelling,
All your faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, you are all compassion,
Boundless mercy from above.
Visit us with benediction;
Comfort us with heavenly love. (Charles Wesley, 1707-1788)
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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