If You do these things, show Yourself to the world

 

 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 His teachings concerning eating His flesh and drinking His blood, 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 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.  In chapter 6 we read of events that took place during the second Passover season recorded in John's Gospel, in which Jesus disputed with the religious leaders ("the Jews" is used in John's Gospel most often to denote specifically the religious leadership, and not the people in general).   For this reason He does not want to walk in Judea, the center of the religious establishment and the temple.  We are now beginning to read of events which took place during the final year of Christ's earthly life.

Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Hebrew Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Booths) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival.  My study Bible explains that it commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and the people lived in tents, or tabernacles.   Along with Passover and Pentecost, these formed the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews.  It included may sacrifices and celebrations (Leviticus 23:33-43).  In later times, the final day of the 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 also in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock that Moses struck (Exodus 17:1-7).  Later on the images in this chapter will inform Christ's teachings on light and illumination, reflecting the lighting of the great lamps in the outer court of the temple.  See also 2 Maccabbees 10:5-9.

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.  My study Bible comments that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  His brothers speak in earthly or worldly terms (show Yourself to the world), but Christ's mission is one that testifies to the evil in the works of the world (see Matthew 16:2-24).  My study Bible explains also that in Jewish usage (and for that matter, today in the extended Middle East), the term brother can indicate any number of relations.  Abram called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz referred to his cousin Elimelech as his "brother" (Ruth 4:3); and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).  Jesus Himself had no blood brothers, as Mary had only one Son, Jesus.  The brothers mentioned here were either stepbrothers; that is, sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, or cousins.  We can understand this in the action of Christ at the Cross, in committing the care of His mother to John His disciple (John 19:25-27) -- for this would have been unthinkable if Mary had other children to care for her.  

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).  John's Gospel gives us the divisions of the people, adding that no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the religious leaders. 

What does it mean that Christ testifies that the works of the world are evil?  Jesus says to His relatives, when they encourage Him to show Himself openly, "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."   His "time" to which He refers is the time of His Passion, and we must understand this also in the context of testimony to the evil works of the world.  The Crucifixion itself, as plotted by the powerful leaders for their own reasons (Matthew 27:17-18), is an act which expresses this evil -- however, it is entered into voluntarily and knowingly by Christ, for it is the culmination of this testimony.  As it is Christ Himself, Incarnate God, the power which is also at work transforms and transfigures the Crucifixion itself, turning the Cross into a sign of Resurrection and God's power against evil.  As noted above, when St. Peter encourages Jesus to avoid the Cross, Jesus responds to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Matthew 16:23).  It is one example of how a worldly way of thinking does not correspond to God's thinking, and specifically to the mission of Jesus Christ and what He must do in His testimony.  In today's reading, Jesus' extended family, not understanding His mission, encourages Him to "show Yourself to the world."   They reason that "no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly," and that He should "go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing."  But we know that many of Christ's works, in their immediate context, were done by Christ in secret (Luke 8:54-56), or in far away places (such as His revelation of Himself to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4:1-42), with Christ frequently admonishing the beneficiary of His grace and healing to "tell no one."  The "world," by contrast, would clamor for publicity.  Somehow, as in the words of Christ's brethren, everything depends upon proofs, upon showing something to the world that would compel belief (Matthew 12:39).  But often in the Gospels, the deliberate stirring up of crowds is something which in itself is used with evil intent, and misleads leads the people (Mark 15:11).  Faith, however, comes from something more than this, as we have read taught by Jesus throughout chapter 6:  it is the working of Father, Son, and Spirit within us that draws us to know Christ, and works within the heart of human beings.  John's Gospel will continually teach us that even the very Incarnation of Christ tells us something about what it is to seek and know Christ.  His mission is at work in the world but not of it (John 17:14)  There is something more that we seek, a mystical component that feeds also soul and spirit, and that prompts us to wish to know His path for us, and to grow in faith. 

 

 

 

 

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, when they heard Jesus speak of eating His Body and Blood, 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.  The next section of John's Gospel (7:1-10-21) speaks of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.  The whole section covers eight days of the festival.  The setting is now the final year of the life of Christ.  My study bible comments that during this festival, Jesus taught in the temple and attracted a great deal of public attention.  It says that some thought Him mad (verse 20), others believed He was the Messiah (verses 31, 40), and yet others (such as the leadership of the Pharisees and Sadducees) thought He was a threat (verses 32, 45-52).  The Jews who sough to kill Him, once again, are the religious leaders who feel He is a threat to them, and not the Jewish people in general.  We must remember that Jesus, His disciples, who include the author of this Gospel, and all those to whom He goes and who listen to Him preach, are Jewish.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Hebrew succoth, sometimes spelled as Sukkot) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival.  It commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, a time when the people lived in tents (or tabernacles).  Together with Passover and the Old Testament Pentecost it 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 adds, the final day of the feast included drawing water from the pool of Siloam, to be mixed with wine and poured at the foot of the altar.  This was both a purification and done in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock struck by Moses (Exodus 17:1-7).  Moreover, it included the lighting of the great lamps in the outer court of the temple.  Elements of each of these events of the festival will be referenced in the preaching of Christ. 

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.   Across the Middle East still today, the word brother is used to refer to extended family, including cousins.  In the historical understanding of the Church, Mary had only one Son, and Christ had no siblings.  These brothers are either step-brothers by a previous marriage of Joseph, Jesus' earthly guardian, or cousins.  Jesus' time is the time of His Passion.

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.  Not openly, my study bible explains, means without a grand, public entrance, such as will happen on Palm Sunday (12:12-16), when Christ's time has come.

 

 Today's reading tells us something about Jesus' personal struggles that we don't necessarily find in other Gospels.  Jesus' own family does not believe in Him.  At least His extended family is taunting Him in today's reading.  They ridicule Him as the religious leaders will later do.  I think this is quite an important element, as it shows us something about the struggle for a spiritual life in the world.  Jesus' response to them characterizes their understanding as "worldly" in that sense.  He says, "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."  Jesus is not responding to the lack of belief of His brothers as some sort of personal problem among them in the family, but rather puts this as a spiritual problem.  Their identification is with "the world" but Christ calls testifies that the works of the world are evil.  This is a profound spiritual split, not simply a problem among brothers or family or any other type of nominal social group.  It is an invariable difference regarding an attitude to what might be commonly accepted but is nevertheless evil.  It is, in fact, an issue of the Cross, and where the Cross may come even between brothers.   In the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."  He writes of Christ "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (see Colossians 2).  In other words, the Cross calls out the truth of the world, exposing evil and bringing it to light.  It is the Cross that overshadows this passage, even as Christ says that His time has not yet come.  John's Gospel concerns itself with light and darkness -- especially with the rejection of the Light, and the nature of darkness to seek to hide (see John 1:1-18).    In the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes in what we might call very Johannine language about light and darkness.  St. Paul advises them to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light" (Ephesians 5:11-13).  In the following chapter, St. Paul writes in terms of battle, about taking up the whole armor of God, and that the battle is really a spiritual one, in which this armor is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, salvation, Scripture, prayer and supplication, the help of the saints and the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:10-20).   In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus speaks of this sword He brings that will come between family members (see Matthew 10:34-36).   For monastics, these issues of separation from the world, within so many levels of life and even in personal relations, would become a crucial issue of following the Lord.  For us laypeople, we may also find such issues appearing in our lives, with our faith in Christ seemingly leading us through fissures in our nominally good and desired relationships.  Let us remember that all of this is in the way of the Cross, and that it is essentially a spiritual battle -- not a personal or political or social one -- that we are drawn to as faithful.  Let us remember the armor and weapons named by Jesus and St. Paul, and put on the whole armor of  God.  We should not be dismayed or surprised at the places the Cross may take us, for so went Jesus before us.  But we should remember that we are in a long walk somewhere, a journey of faith, toward that end where all things are reconciled in Him.

 

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 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

In yesterday's reading, we read of the aftermath of Jesus' discourse and teaching on Himself as the bread of life. Earlier, He had taught, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." But now, many of His disciples complained, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" Jesus asked, "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." He knew what was in their hearts, and which would fall away. He taught again, "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. Again, in John's Gospel, the term "the Jews" here refers to the leadership, which actively opposes and seeks to destroy Him, not to the Jewish people nor to Jewish spiritual heritage. Jesus is wary of Judea, the central place of temple leadership, because by now the opposition has become open and fierce.

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. Those who oppose Him are not just in Judea! Here His own relatives oppose Him, at least in their hearts at this point. They taunt Him to prove Himself and show Himself openly. "Brothers" can mean extended family and is still used in the Middle East today for extended relationships such as cousins. My study bible notes that the Eastern Fathers understood "brothers" as stepbrothers, sons of Joseph by a previous wife; while the Western Fathers understood them to be first or second cousins. They're never called sons of Mary. Regarding the Feast of Tabernacles, my study bible notes, "The Feast of Tabernacles (Heb. succoth) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival commemorating the wanderings of ancient Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, a time when the chosen people lived in tents (or 'tabernacles'). Along with Passover and Pentecost, Tabernacles was one of the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews."

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. Jesus' time will be what is referred to also as His hour, the time of His Passion - His glorfication, and at the Triumphal Entry when He "openly" goes to Jerusalem. But here we have the contrast between the "worldly" and Jesus' testimony of the Father. His spoken word becomes judgment; the truth He brings is something in which one trusts or does not. His own relations apparently cannot share in this trust, either.

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. We're now in the time of open persecution of Jesus, short of what is to come at the Passion. And I think we have to recall that in the times when John wrote his Gospel (and the Revelation), the Church was also undergoing a terrible and vicious persecution on a number of fronts. John's focus on opposition and betrayal tells us a lot about what the Church was to experience. Here, he gives us Jesus going to festival in secret, as it is not yet His time. But opposition and violence and threats are everywhere from the leadership ("the Jews"). The people themselves are torn about Him. Some call Him good, others do not. But the people themselves do not speak where the leadership can hear them, out of fear. So the people themselves are not "openly" at the festival, either, in some sense.

The menace of persecution is something we can palpably feel in the Gospel at the point of this reading. It comes to us in many ways, including the taunting of Jesus' "brothers." John gives us this picture of what it is to be Christ with His mission, to testify of the Father, and there is so much in opposition to this testimony. It's not a "hearts and roses" sort of picture, a sentimental do-gooder who's everyone's idea of a friend or companion. On the contrary, the Jesus we receive in this Gospel has "hard sayings" that not even His followers can accept (see yesterday's reading). Again, I feel we'd best go back to understand the persecution under which John and the Church suffered in John's lifetime, and know that in the other Gospels as well Jesus warns repeatedly not just of persecution to come, but also betrayal, and even wolves in sheep's clothing among His own, whom we as His followers are always to be vigilant about, on the watch for. In other words, this is not a fairy tale. It's a true story about human beings, about struggles, and even about the ongoing struggles we may receive in our own lives as faithful. Jesus doesn't promise us a rose garden without the thorns. In the "hard saying" of yesterday's (and recent) readings, we find many of His own disciples come to a crossroads: they can't understand about the bread of life, His words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And they can't trust past those words. But the twelve, with Peter speaking for them, find themselves at the place of faith where they trust more deeply. Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is an affirmation of that deeper step, even as many fall away from them. Here in today's reading, Jesus goes up to the Festival in secret, not openly. He has work to do, but His hour has not yet come. There is persecution and danger. But through it all, there is a mission and a plan, to which He must be faithful. As He trusts in the Father, so He asks our trust in Him. And that's where faith goes; that's the road we're on. Sometimes we encounter danger, and separation even from family, and friends. We come to a crossroads where we have to decide: can we follow in faith, in trust? We don't know where it leads us. But our trust is in love, in the Father of love, in God who is love, in the One who truly has our best interest at heart. Which path do you choose?