Bible Reading
Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles
7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works 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. 6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
Jesus Teaches at the Festival
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” 16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
Division Over Who Jesus Is
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. 47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works 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. 6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
Jesus Teaches at the Festival
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” 16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
Division Over Who Jesus Is
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. 47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
Devotional
A theme that weaves its way though the gospels often unnoticed is one of timing. Jesus brought up this issue of timing many times in His ministry saying things like, “My time has not yet come.” Jesus not only had a plan for what He would accomplish during His life but also when He would fulfill that prophecy or mission. This timing is the reason Jesus was in Galilee at the beginning of chapter 7. The Jewish leaders in the region of Judea hated Jesus and were looking for a way to kill Him. Eventually, they would, but the time for Jesus to be arrested had not yet come; He still had teaching, instruction and miracles yet to come. It was not a lack of courage that made Jesus stay in Galilee, but an awareness of the Father’s perfect timing – and it was not yet the appointed time for Him to be arrested and delivered to the Gentiles.
The entire chapter focuses around a single narrative of Jesus going to the temple in secret during the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is a joyful, week long celebration in September or October when families camped out in temporary shelters to remember God’s faithfulness to Israel in the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan under Moses. That is why this festival is also know as the festival of booths (sukkoth), because, for the full week it lasted, people lived in makeshift booths of branches and leaves according to Leviticus chapter 23.
Jesus would have been easily recognized if He had went to the festival with His usual entourage. There were common people looking for Him and Jewish leaders as well, all seeking out Jesus for very different reasons. In His veiled approach, Jesus was able to enter the city unnoticed and
overhear the people of the city talking about Him in hushed tones. Some claimed Jesus was good, others argued Jesus was a deceiver. The same is true of Jesus today; He is a divider of communities and households, splitting those who pursue truth and those who would pursue self over all else. Everyone has an opinion of Jesus.
At some point in the festival, Jesus goes into the Temple and begins to teach, garnering an astonished response from the Jewish people who went up to worship on the holy day. They are amazed at the level of knowledge Jesus had and they begin to question His credentials when no falsity of doctrine could be found. Jesus was an eloquent, gifted teacher, but He was not self taught; Jesus was God taught. His authority was not from any man, but from His Father. He actively invited His listeners to examine His teachings according to the Scriptures to see if anything He was saying was not true. Jesus then proceeds to teach and reveal who He is and where His authority comes from using the picture of Moses and the Law. It’s important to note that Jesus was sharing this teaching inside of the temple courts, so those surrounding Him were all Jews who saw themselves as those who followed Jewish law and were very familiar with the life and times of Moses. Jesus bringing up Moses as an example in this place and at this time would not have been mere coincidence.
At some point in His wise and measured approach, Jesus is confronted by religious leaders in the crowd hoping to derail the teaching with wild accusations. They claim that Jesus has a demon and is trying to trick the people. Jesus had just spoken a hard truth, alleging that some people were seeking to kill Him for breaking the law when in fact it was them who were guilty under the law, not Jesus. This accurate assessment garnered an outburst of accusations back towards Jesus. To claim that Jesus was possessed by a demon is akin to the modern accusations made of Christians as being hateful, intolerant and hypocritical. They are accusations made to shut down conversation, not expand it. The Jewish leaders felt threatened that Jesus would turn the crowd against them, and they worked to end this outpouring of truth as quickly as possible.
Many of the people who came to town for the festival were not aware the Pharisees were in fact seeking to kill Jesus because He had healed a man on the Sabbath. They thought Jesus was crazy or perhaps paranoid because of His claim that people were trying to kill Him. But those from Jerusalem were aware of the plot against Jesus and they even used that plot to (again) try to discredit Him. The common people were amazed at how Jesus spoke with boldness and authority. Jesus was never afraid or intimidated by the threats against Him. Again, those who opposed Jesus tried to discredit Him by claiming He could not be the Messiah because they knew where He came from. Popular belief of the time held that the Messiah would appear. The idea was that he was waiting concealed and some day would burst suddenly upon the world and no one would know where he had come from.
Jesus again asserts His divine and heavenly origin and the crowds are split as they are even today. Some believe Him fully as the long awaited Messiah, others believe only that He is a prophet, and others are fueled with hatred and want only to kill Him all the more. In the end, they tried to arrest Jesus, but could not because the timing was not yet right. Jesus still had more to accomplish, but He would soon return to Jerusalem some time later, riding on a donkey over palm branches to cries of “Hosanna”.
The entire chapter focuses around a single narrative of Jesus going to the temple in secret during the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is a joyful, week long celebration in September or October when families camped out in temporary shelters to remember God’s faithfulness to Israel in the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan under Moses. That is why this festival is also know as the festival of booths (sukkoth), because, for the full week it lasted, people lived in makeshift booths of branches and leaves according to Leviticus chapter 23.
Jesus would have been easily recognized if He had went to the festival with His usual entourage. There were common people looking for Him and Jewish leaders as well, all seeking out Jesus for very different reasons. In His veiled approach, Jesus was able to enter the city unnoticed and
overhear the people of the city talking about Him in hushed tones. Some claimed Jesus was good, others argued Jesus was a deceiver. The same is true of Jesus today; He is a divider of communities and households, splitting those who pursue truth and those who would pursue self over all else. Everyone has an opinion of Jesus.
At some point in the festival, Jesus goes into the Temple and begins to teach, garnering an astonished response from the Jewish people who went up to worship on the holy day. They are amazed at the level of knowledge Jesus had and they begin to question His credentials when no falsity of doctrine could be found. Jesus was an eloquent, gifted teacher, but He was not self taught; Jesus was God taught. His authority was not from any man, but from His Father. He actively invited His listeners to examine His teachings according to the Scriptures to see if anything He was saying was not true. Jesus then proceeds to teach and reveal who He is and where His authority comes from using the picture of Moses and the Law. It’s important to note that Jesus was sharing this teaching inside of the temple courts, so those surrounding Him were all Jews who saw themselves as those who followed Jewish law and were very familiar with the life and times of Moses. Jesus bringing up Moses as an example in this place and at this time would not have been mere coincidence.
At some point in His wise and measured approach, Jesus is confronted by religious leaders in the crowd hoping to derail the teaching with wild accusations. They claim that Jesus has a demon and is trying to trick the people. Jesus had just spoken a hard truth, alleging that some people were seeking to kill Him for breaking the law when in fact it was them who were guilty under the law, not Jesus. This accurate assessment garnered an outburst of accusations back towards Jesus. To claim that Jesus was possessed by a demon is akin to the modern accusations made of Christians as being hateful, intolerant and hypocritical. They are accusations made to shut down conversation, not expand it. The Jewish leaders felt threatened that Jesus would turn the crowd against them, and they worked to end this outpouring of truth as quickly as possible.
Many of the people who came to town for the festival were not aware the Pharisees were in fact seeking to kill Jesus because He had healed a man on the Sabbath. They thought Jesus was crazy or perhaps paranoid because of His claim that people were trying to kill Him. But those from Jerusalem were aware of the plot against Jesus and they even used that plot to (again) try to discredit Him. The common people were amazed at how Jesus spoke with boldness and authority. Jesus was never afraid or intimidated by the threats against Him. Again, those who opposed Jesus tried to discredit Him by claiming He could not be the Messiah because they knew where He came from. Popular belief of the time held that the Messiah would appear. The idea was that he was waiting concealed and some day would burst suddenly upon the world and no one would know where he had come from.
Jesus again asserts His divine and heavenly origin and the crowds are split as they are even today. Some believe Him fully as the long awaited Messiah, others believe only that He is a prophet, and others are fueled with hatred and want only to kill Him all the more. In the end, they tried to arrest Jesus, but could not because the timing was not yet right. Jesus still had more to accomplish, but He would soon return to Jerusalem some time later, riding on a donkey over palm branches to cries of “Hosanna”.