My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil

 

 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no  one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 

- John 7:1-13 

 

Yesterday, we read that many of Christ's disciples, after they heard Him teach, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you," said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.   And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. 

 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  Let us remember that in John's Gospel, the term the Jews most often refers to the religious leaders who reject Him; it is used as something like a political label.  Christ Himself, His family, His disciples, and the author of the Gospel were all Jews.  My study Bible comments that the following section of John's Gospel (John 7:1-10:21) tells of Christ's visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.  This entire section covers eight days.  We are now reading about events that took place during the last year of Christ's earthly life; at this festival He taught in the temple and attracted a great deal of public attention.  As we will read, the reactions to Christ varied:  some people thought He was mad, others believed Him to be the Messiah, and still others such as the Sadducees and Pharisees considered Him to be a threat.  The Jews who sought to kill Him are the religious leaders, and not the people in general.  Regarding the Feast of Tabernacles (in Hebrew, Succoth or Sukkot), my study Bible explains that it is an eight-day autumn harvest festival which commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and the people lived in tents (or "tabernacles").   Along with Passover and Pentecost, this was one of the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews; it included many sacrifices and celebrations (Leviticus 23:33-43).  In later times, my study Bible tells us, the final day of this feast also included drawing water from the pool of Siloam to be mixed with wine and poured at the foot of the altar, both as a purification and in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock that Moses struck (Exodus 17:1-7).   Moreover it include the lighting of the great lamps in the outer court of the temple, which will also play a role in the imagery Christ uses in this chapter.

 

 His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no  one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  In Jewish usage (and as used today around the Middle East), "brother" can mean a variety of relations.  My study Bible points out that Abram called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz spoke of his cousin Elimelech as his "brother" (Ruth 4:3); and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).  Christ Himself did not have blood brothers, for Mary had only one Son, Jesus.  The brothers that are mentioned here are either stepbrothers (that is, sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage), or cousins.  We note that Jesus will commit the care of His mother to John at the Cross (John 19:25-27), something which would have been unthinkable had Mary other children to care for her.  

Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  Christ will repeatedly refers to His time, or more specifically, His hour, in John's Gospel (see also John 2:4, 12:27).  When He speaks this way of the world, it illuminates an understanding of spiritual battle, that He has come to claim a spiritual kingdom.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.  My study Bible explains that not openly means not with a grand, public entrance as on Palm Sunday (John 12:12-16), the day when He openly proclaims His kingdom on His entrance into Jerusalem.  At this stage, John's Gospel clearly expresses the hostility of the religious leaders who seek Jesus, and the confusion of the people, along with their fear of speaking openly.

As the final year of Christ earthly life, and of His ministry, begins, we see conflict brewing.  We also get a taste of the clear understanding that Jesus has come into the world to claim His kingdom, as Son.  When Jesus says that He testifies that the works of this world are evil, He is referring to the "ruler of this world" (see John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11).  There is also a clear understanding that to claim this Kingdom is to also implement judgment, and His testimony that the works of the world and its ruler are evil is a part of that process of judgment that begins with the age His Incarnation inaugurates, in which we still live.  Let us remember that He refers to "works" and not to the creation of this world nor its ontological state, its being.   In the creation story of Genesis, we are told that God said the creation was good, and very good (Genesis 1:31).  For Orthodox Christians, that sin and even spiritual rebellion entered the world does not take away from the essential goodness of life and of creation, but this condition and the result of sin is the unfortunate inheritance into which we were born.  What Christ begins to imply is that He has come into the world to claim it as rightful heir and ruler, to set it aright, and the story of the Cross and of His hour is part and parcel of that reality that He brings.  As John quotes Christ, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).  This is a saving mission.  But as Jesus begins to encounter active hostility to His mission, and those who plot against Him for all kinds of reasons, we are to understand the nature of that mission.  It is not easy and obviously not without risks; ultimately, even the evil of this world will be used to God's purposes of salvation.  But let us begin with this understanding that even when we do good, the world will not necessarily line up to appreciate who we are and what we do.  Christ's brothers and extended family also do not understand Him, and challenge Him to go openly to Jerusalem.  He will come to teach a different kind of relatedness, in which those who seek to live and do the will of His Father constitute brother, sister, mother (Matthew 12:49-50).   The Feast of Tabernacles is also known as the Feast of the Coming Kingdom, as it commemorated Israel's trek toward the promised land.  Christ comes to lay claim more directly to this Kingdom and its rule in this world, to define it for us more broadly and powerfully, to make it immediate, to overthrow the "ruler of this world."   As we head toward Palm Sunday, it is a good time to think about what that means, about the kind of spiritual struggle He came into the world to initiate, and the power of the Cross and the meaning of His sacrifice, and how that Kingdom dwells within us (Luke 17:20-21).  There will always be those who deny His love, but He asks of us to take up our own crosses in this "good fight."