My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready

 

 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 the 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, after Christ's teaching, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him," many of His disciples, when they heard this, 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 the 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.   This chapter begins a section in John's Gospel (John 7:1-10:21) which covers events during Christ's visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.  This entire section (nearly three chapters) covers eight days.  It is now the final year of Christ's earthly life, in which He taught in the temple and attracted much public attention.  My study Bible comments that some thought He was mad (John 7:20); others believed He was the Messiah (John 7:31, 40); and still others (such as the religious leadership of the Sadducees and Pharisees) considered Him to be a threat (John 7:32, 45-52).  The text tells us that the Jews sought to kill Him.  We must remember that in John's Gospel, the term the Jews is used like a political label, and most often denotes the leadership in the temple at Jerusalem and those who serve them.  Some suggest this term is more accurately translated "Judeans," and in that context we understand that those designated as such in this Gospel are either among the leaders in Jerusalem (in the region of Judea) who generally treat Christ as a threat, or among their followers in Galilee or elsewhere.  As stated frequently here on this blog, all of the people in this text, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are Jews, including Christ and His disciples among whom is the author of this Gospel. 

Now the Jews' Feast of the Tabernacles was at hand.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Hebrew Succot) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival.  It commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai and the people lived in tents, or "tabernacles."  Together with Passover and Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks), this was one of the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews.  My study Bible explains that it contained numerous sacrifices and celebrations (Leviticus 23:33-43), and we will be examining Christ's preaching and teaching in light of those events.  In later terms, the final day of the festival included drawing water from the pool of Siloam (which plays a role in the text) which would be mixed with wine and poured out at the foot of the altar.  My study Bible explains this was both a purification and done 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, reflected in Christ's teaching in references to light.

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.  Christ's brothers are extended family, either children of Joseph (His earthly guardian) by a previous wife, or cousins.  In the language of the Bible, and still today across the Middle East, various relations are referred to as "brothers" (for example, Lot, the nephew of Abram, is called his brother  in  Genesis 14:14-16).  Pertinent to this passage, my study Bible references Matthew 12:46-50, Jesus' relatives have still not yet understood His identity and mission.  In that passage, Christ points to a spiritual family which is based on obedience to the will of His Father.  

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 Jesus' going to the festival not openly means not with a grand, public entrance.  This will happen on Palm Sunday, a week before His death and Resurrection (John 12:12-16).  Let us note how the people are already afraid to speak of Jesus openly for fear of the religious leaders.

As happens frequently in the Gospels, we notice Christ's cautious response to the circumstances in which He finds Himself.  So often He is dealing either with those who have hostility toward Him, or reject His mission and message in another way (such as seeking to force Him to be king (John 6:15).  In today's reading, His "brothers" (or kinspeople) seem to ridicule Him, suggesting that if He is really such an important figure He should act in accordance with what is expected of someone who seeks to be publicly known.  They say, "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."   Judea is the center of Jewish authority and official life; it is the region in which Jerusalem sits.  His brethren almost sound like modern publicity agents, encouraging someone who wants to be a pop star or a famous public figure to go out and show themselves to the world, making an impression to get more followers.   Again, as is often the case in the Gospels, the encouragement is to show His "works" -- the marvelous healings and other signs.   Often it's demanded of Jesus that He shows a proof to those who don't believe, so that they will be convinced.  This repeatedly happens on the part of the religious leadership; they demand proof of His authority to act in the temple as He does (John 2:18).  It's as if we're supposed to understand that there is a worldly way to go out into the world and show greatness, and then on the other hand, there is God's way.  There is Christ's way.  And Jesus always sticks to the mission.  He always follows what His Father tells Him.  In this case, to go out and prove to the world -- and especially to the religious leaders, or even to His disciples as His relations suggest -- is not the way of Christ the Savior.  It is not the way to know faith and to understand it.  At this stage of His ministry, it is not the way that salvation must be brought to the world.  Faith must work on a different basis; His ministry must unfold in a particular way, and not through means of sheer publicity, public impression, or signs designed merely to convince rather than to point toward God.  Jesus teaches us to be discerning, and to know the time.   In today's reading, He tells His relatives, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready" and  "I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  Elsewhere we're told that His hour had not yet come (John 2:4, 7:30, 8:20).  And still at other times we will be told that His hour has come, meaning the time of His glorification in His Passion, death, and Resurrection (John 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1).  These examples teach us about our own need for discernment; the right time is not at just any time for particular things. While we may not have the perfect discernment of Jesus, but we may in faith seek to live prayerful lives, seeking that kind of guidance and discipline that He shows.  He doesn't follow the world, doesn't live by conventional worldly "wisdom" such as the challenges His kinsmen submit to Him to show Himself to the world.  There are times when we are, in fact, called out of the world.  This is indeed the very definition of the sacred, something set apart for God, and that is also the story of the whole of the Bible, and all those called by God.  What we should aim for is to fulfill the promise in the life that Christ leads to show us by example, and seek in a prayerful life to find our own particular time and discernment about what we do.  It is not so much that we need to be as perfect as Christ is in such obedience and discipline, but we do need to understand that we might be called out of the world, out of what is conventional, through a life of devotion and prayer in seeking what God wants of us.  Just like Christ's hour, this is the way of the Cross, to forego what might be expected or even demanded by "the world," and find instead God's way for us.  Let us seek to bear that difference in the struggle marked by the love of God.