Feast of Tabernacles - John 7:1-9

The persecution against Jesus is growing in intensity, so John tells us that he stays in Galilee, “because the Jews sought to kill him.” The IM reminds us that when John says “the Jews,” he doesn’t mean the general Jewish population, who love Jesus, but the Jewish leadership who are afraid that Jesus will take their power away from them. The time had come for the annual Feast of Tabernacles, one of the 3 main feasts in Judaism, where many Jews travel to Jerusalem to celebrate. The Feast of Tabernacles is the “greatest and most joyful” of the three because, from what I understand, it’s like a harvest festival. Jesus’ half-brothers, those who were born to both Mary and Joseph, urge Jesus to go to the festival, “that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doesth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him.” Jesus must have been in a really uncomfortable position at this time. He personally doesn’t like the celebrity status that he’s being given, he probably doesn’t care for being hated either, because peace is his nature. But he also understands his role as the Savior of the world, and he desparetly wants his fellow human beings to have the gospel so that they can be happy and saved, but he knows that the only way that they can embrace the gospel is for him to teach it, which in turn increases his popularity. He probably knows that many people will be in Jerusalem and that it would be an excellent time to teach the gospel and save souls, but that would be dangerous for him.

We know that Jesus isn’t afraid of danger because he can stop the threat because he has to willingly give his life. Which begs the question, if he knows that he can’t die unless he chooses to, then why does he stay out of Jerusalem because of the danger? We’ve seen before that God can perform miracles to save people, and surely Satan was right when he said that angels could come and save Jesus “lest you dash your foot against a stone.” When we were discussing the temptations of Christ, and this one in particular, we learned that miracles don’t convert, they only strengthen existing testimony, and they warp the agency of others. Those who witness a miracle, such as those who saw the demons cast out of the boy and sent into the pigs, are sometimes afraid of what happened and will reject learning more because of it. We also know that if someone witnesses a miracle and still rejects the gospel, they are held to a higher degree of accountability because of what they’ve witnessed, and that in turn might further harden their hearts. Having Jesus be saved miraculously will not do the good for the people that others think that it might. Like Jesus told Satan, don’t tempt the Lord thy God.

The other things Jesus has to consider when deciding whether or not to go to Jerusalem for the feast is his popularity. Even though he probably doesn’t love the attention, he knows that as God he is to be worshipped. He knows of the prophecies of the Savior of the world coming to Jerusalem on a donkey, as a king, and when that eventually does happen, there is enough hatred for him that within a week Jesus is taken and crucified. And since Jesus ends up secretly going in to Jerusalem to teach, we can deduce that one of the major incidents that he’s trying to avoid is for him to show up at the gates of Jerusalem with a crowd. His brothers even point out that if he really is who he claims to be that he should be as public as he can, so that the believers can seen him. I wonder if the brothers know that if Jesus were just a mortal man and showed up to Jerusalem with a crowd, that he would be crucified? I think about them looking at their older brother, not believing that he is the Savior of the world, and telling him “you should go to Jerusalem, where you can show off for people.” I wonder if it even crossed their minds that heeding their advice would end with his death. Are the malicious like that? Do they want to see their older brother murdered, even if he is delusional? The older brother who cared for them after Joseph died, do they really want him dead? In the IM for the book of Acts, which is a record made after Jesus’ death, we learn, “Though Jesus’s brothers had not always believed in His divinity, they were now counted among the believers. Jesus’s brother James would later become a leader of the Church in Jerusalem and an Apostle. His brother ‘Juda’ is likely the author of the Epistle of Jude.”

Because they converted after his death, I don’t think that his brothers really wanted him to die, honestly, I think that when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover in a few months, and he is hailed as a king, and his brothers watch what happened as he was captured and crucified, they might have felt like they had betrayed Jesus a little bit. Nothing cements loyalty like a betrayal, and it’s possible that his brothers felt partly responsible for the triumphal entry of Jesus at the Passover because they had suggested he do it at this feast. Because they lacked the eternal perspective and the full understanding of who He is, Jesus’ brothers might have felt at least partially responsible for prompting Him to do something that ultimately led to his incredible suffering and death.