Josh Benner

Tag: Feast of Booths

  • Sermon: The thirst Jesus quenches – John 7:37-39

    37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

    Prayer 

    Our Heavenly Father, 

    1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 

    Lord God, it is only through your gospel that the longings of the human soul can be quenched. We praise you for the salvation which you promise through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

    We thank you that we have a savior whom we can approach. 

    Lord, we ask that you again bless our time as we study your word. Prepare our hearts as we approach your scriptures. May we do it in a spirit of humility and reverence. 

    May we grow in deeper love for your goodness. 

    Lord, none but you is worthy of our praise. 

    We pray that we would be strengthened and edified as we study your sacred scriptures. 

    In Jesus’ name, amen. 

    Introduction 

    Water. It helps regulate our body temperature.  It protects our joints and spinal cord. It helps brain function, energy levels, and circulation. It’s used in running the major systems of our bodies. It helps our bodies dispose of waste.

    It’s essential to human life. Our bodies are mostly made up of water. A healthy person can only survive 3-4 days without it. 

    One of the great blessings of modern, industrial societies is that we have easy access to drinking water. We just turn on the tap and there it is. 

    It’s a blessing that I know I never seriously take time to consider and appreciate. It’s just there. 

    In other parts of the world, water is in short supply due to draught and insufficient storage and purification facilities. 

    In parts of Africa, millions of people – mostly women or children – do not have indoor plumbing and have to make daily trips to communal sources of water. 

    And that’s more similar to the situation in Jesus’ day. 

    Israel gets almost no rainfall from May to mid-October. 

    And so when Jesus talks about people thirsting, it might have had a little more resonance to a first century audience than it would for us. 

    But still, thirst is an incredibly powerful metaphor. Because even though we do have easy access to water, we’ve all been thirsty at some point. Maybe you’ve been outside all day. May it’s a really hot day. There is an instant relief that water brings us. 

    And in those times, it’s a thirst that only water can quench. Maybe you’re a soda drinker, a soda isn’t refreshing when you’re truly thirsty. Maybe you’re a coffee drinker. A piping hot cup of coffee isn’t refreshing when you’re thirsty. Only water. 

    In our section, Jesus stands up and proclaims:

    If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

    Are you thirsty? 

    Over the last couple of weeks in chapter 7, we’ve seen Jesus at the Feast of Booths. 

    In today’s section, our passage opens up by saying that it is the last day of the feast. So we’ve seen quite a bit of time dedicated to this one week Feast of Booths. 

    And with that, we’ll jump right into our passage before making a few concluding observations about the passage.

    Verses 37-38: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

    John says that Jesus cried out when he spoke. There is urgency to his proclamation. 

    If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

    The first thing that we have to understand about this passage is that Jesus does not talk about thirst and drinking out of nowhere. 

    What he’s saying fits in with the feast. 

    And it’s important to understand what Jesus is saying in light of the Old Testament. 

    One thing we have not talked about is that in Jesus’ day, as part of the observance of the Feast of Booths there was a water pouring ceremony where the high priest would take a golden pitcher of water. With an assembly of people following him, the high priest would go to the nearby Pool of Siloam and fill the pitcher. The priest would bring the water back to the temple courtyard as horns blasted in celebration. The people would recite Psalms of praise and chant three times “Give thanks to the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, give thanks to the Lord.” And the high priest would take the pitcher of water and pour it on the altar. 

    In Jesus’ day, this ceremony had developed. 

    Now, keep in mind that the Feast of Booths was, in part, meant to recall the time in which their Israelite forefathers were in the wilderness and awaiting the Promised Land. 

    For 40 years, the Israelites dwelled in their own booths or tents and brought the tabernacle with them through the desert. 

    In Exodus chapters 15, 16, and 17, the Israelites were still in the first few days and weeks into the desert wanderings. They’ve just seen God bring the plagues upon the Egyptians. They’ve just seen the Lord part the waters of the Red Sea and free them Egyptian rule. 

    The Israelites quickly fall into grumbling. In Exodus 15, they grumble about not having water. As if the Lord God who had miraculously freed them would not provide. 

    But before we judge the Israelites too harshly, we can often be as fickle and as quick to forget the Lord’s blessings in our own lives. 

    Can we not? 

    We can forget God’s blessings in our lives, God’s faithfulness in our lives, God’s provision in our lives. We’re not so different from the Israelites. 

    In Exodus, God provides water. 

    Exodus 16, the Israelites complain about not having enough food and go as far as accusing the Lord of having brought them into the desert for them all to die. 

    God is gracious. He provides manna. It was miraculous. Something which the Lord used to sustain them for every day of their 40 year journey. 

    Interestingly, in John 6, we see Jesus as something greater when he declares that he himself is the true bread of life after he had fed the multitudes. 

    Exodus 17, the people again complain about water. 

    Nevermind that God has already shown his ability to provide water. God has shown that he will provide food. But the Israelites again grumble and accuse the Lord of having brought them into the wilderness to kill them. 

    Instead of reigning down righteous judgment, God does another miracle 

    Exodus 17:4-6: So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 

    God provides water from a rock. When the Israelites were in the desert and thirsty, God gave them water. 

    And that was part of the background for the water ceremony at the Feast of Booths. 

    Again, the Feast of Booths was largely meant to look back at the time of the Israelite wanderings. 

    But there’s further significance to the water. 

    Water is a symbol of blessing in the Old Testament.

    And once again, to appreciate that, I think we have to keep in mind desert and semiarid climates where the Israelites lived in the Old Testament and in the time of Christ. 

    The water ceremony specifically was related to Isaiah 12. It’s not specifically commanded in that passage, but the connection of water and life and praise for the Lord influenced the Jewish observance of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

    Isaiah 12:3-4: 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. 

    Or again, we see the connection with water and divine blessing in Isaiah 55:1:

    “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk 

    Zechariah 14:8 prophesied of a future time of God’s blessing. 

    On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.

    It’s interesting that even in Zechariah, he refers to living water. 

    The prophets are looking forward to a future time of the Lord’s provision where it’s compared to living water. 

    Water is important. 

    And in the Old Testament, you also see the connection of ideas of water with the Holy Spirit. Most famously in Ezekiel 36. 

    Verses 25-27 I consider this one of the three most significant passages in the Old Testament outside of Genesis: 

    25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

    In that passage, we see the specific connection between water and the Spirit and the impact that the Spirit has in the life of a believer. We’ve talked about the importance of water in the Feast of Booths in pointing back to God’s provision of water, in the importance of water for our survival. But the connection of water and the Holy Spirit is also important with their connection to the Feast of Booths because part of the celebration and hope in the Feast of Booths was that it looked forward to a future time when the Lord would pour out his Spirit on his people. 

    And that is important to understanding our passage in John. 

    Because Jesus says: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

    Ezekiel pointed to a time when people would be so filled with the Spirit that they would be enabled to live out the Law of God. Jesus says that whoever believes in him “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 

    What I believe this is saying is that the one who comes to Jesus will be given the Spirit, as the scriptures have promised. 

    And where it says Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, it is referring to the transformed life of a believer through the work of the Holy Spirit. 

    We don’t cause it to happen. We don’t cause our own Spiritual growth. It is a supernatural work of God in the heart and life of a believer as a result of regeneration. 

    And so that drives home the significance of Jesus standing up on the last day of the feast and calling the thirsty to come to him and drink and his promise of living water. 

    The fact that the living water is the Holy Spirit is not in dispute. You have the Old Testament background. But even more specifically, John tells us that’s what’s being referenced in vere 39. 

    7:39: Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

    And really, Jesus has talked a lot about the Holy Spirit to this point in John. 

    He talks of it in reference to regeneration, being born again, when Nicodemus comes seeking Jesus. John 3:5:“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God

    Jesus is referring to water and the Spirit in John 4 when he tells the woman at the well:


    John 4:14: 

    “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

    The Holy Spirit and his coming into the hearts of believers and the necessity of that happening is really a significant theme in John. It will be a major focus towards the end of his ministry in chapters 14-17. 

    15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

    Back in our main passage. 

    You have a large assembly of Israelite all listening to Jesus preach about the living water he provides at the feast which pointed back to their ancestors’ time in the wilderness. It was in that time that God provided physical water from a rock. But it was meant to point to something greater. 

    You have Jesus at the feast which looked forward to a future time when God would pour out his Spirit and here Jesus proclaims to the group that he is the one who has come to provide that Spirit. 

    But as John ends the passage, the Spirit had not yet been given. John says that this is because Christ had not yet been glorified. 

    Once again, his ministry has a singular focus that is always pointing forward to his death. There are people trying to kill him but unable, we’ve talked about his hour, referring to when he would die. Here again, the Spirit would not be given until after Jesus had died and rose from the dead and been glorified. 

    Jesus provides the living water to the one who comes to him who thirsts.  

    Are you thirsty? 

    And this idea is carried into the Biblical depictions of heaven. 

    Revelation 21:6, John’s vision of the new heaven and the new earth. 

    And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 

    Then again in Revelation 22:17, one of the last few verses of the entire Bible: 

    The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

    Jesus has come for thirsty people. 

    I spoke in the beginning about how much of the world struggles to get water. 

    But it’s interesting. 

    We have water, but we don’t drink it. At least not to the level that we should. 

    Studies show that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. 

    That’s amazing. 

    And I looked at some articles that suggest that there are other industrialized countries who do even worse. One article suggested 80% of Australians and others articles said upwards of 90% of British people don’t drink enough water.

    So we have people in poor countries who don’t drink enough water because they can’t get it. But many people in places who have enough water don’t drink it. 

    That is amazing when you think about it. And I consider the metaphor of thirst and living water from a Spiritual perspective. 

    So many people don’t think that they need God. Don’t think that they need the salvation which Christ offers. Feel like they can do things their own way and be fine. 

    The grace is offered but so many aren’t thirsty – or more accurately – so many people don’t know that they have the thirst for what Christ alone can quench. 

    Jesus provides the living water and he is the only source of the true water. 

    What well are you drinking from? 

    The USS Indianapolis was a battle cruiser which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in the Pacific Ocean in July of 1945. The ship was returning from a mission which had included delivering the enriched uranium needed for the first atomic bomb. 

    The ship sunk in 12 minutes with 1,195 sailors aboard. Roughly 300 died in the initial sinking. 

    For the 900 survivors, they spent a harrowing four days in the hot sun of the Pacific Ocean with very little food or water. Some died from injuries sustained in the sinking, some died from the elements and exposure. Some were killed in shark attacks. 

    But a temptation the survivors faced in their state of extreme dehydration was the desire to drink the sea water. 

    Only 316 of the nearly 900 who survived the sinking of the ship survived the four days at sea. 

    The chief medical officer recounted his own harrowing experiences. 

    There was nothing I could do, nothing I could do but give advice, bury the dead at sea, save the lifejackets, and try to keep the men from drinking the water. When the hot sun came out, and we were in this crystal clear ocean, we were so thirsty. You couldn’t believe it wasn’t good enough to drink. I had a hard time convincing the men they shouldn’t drink. The real young ones…you take away their hope, you take away their water and food, they would drink the salt water and they would go fast. I can remember striking the ones who were drinking the salt water to try to stop them. They would get dehydrated. 

    There is living water that Jesus promises to those who come to him in thirst. 

    Anything else we drink will lead to our own death and destruction. 

    He invites us to know him. He invites us to drink. He invites us to life. 

    Have you come to him as one who is thirsty? Do you believe that he is the Lord? That he is the savior of the world? That he gives living water? 

    And at the last Supper, he invited us to his table. 

  • Sermon: The Father, the Son, and the Law – John 7:14-24

    14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” 

    Prayer 

    Our heavenly Father, 

    It says in your Word that: Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 

    And: No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

    And: in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

    Your Son, our Lord taught: 

    I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” 

    Father, we thank you for our Lord Jesus who points us to you, who makes you known, and who has reconciled us to you. May we believe and know the truth of your gospel that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let that be our only source of hope. May we know the saving work of Christ. May we live our lives in gratitude and the knowledge of your gospel. Lord, we continue to pray for greater trust and reliance on you, through all of the uncertainties and unknowns of this season. 

    1 God is our refuge and strength, 

    a very present help in trouble. 

    Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 

    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

    3 though its waters roar and foam, 

    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 

    4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

    the holy habitation of the Most High. 

    5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 

    God will help her when morning dawns. 

    6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; 

    he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

    7 The Lord of hosts is with us; 

    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 

    8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, 

    how he has brought desolations on the earth. 

    9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; 

    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; 

    he burns the chariots with fire. 

    10 “Be still, and know that I am God. 

    I will be exalted among the nations, 

    I will be exalted in the earth!” 

    May we trust that you are our refuge and strength. May we be still and know that you are God. And may we worship you for your greatness and goodness. Lord, we do not deserve you. We are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes but you are the eternal God who has promised eternal life through your Son. 

    Jesus is the one who makes you known and it is through him and him alone that we can know you and approach you. 

    And so may we humbly come before you in adoration and in a heart of worship to again study your Word. Lord, we ask that you bless our time and bless our hearts and minds as we seek to know you and to know your truth through the preaching of your Most Holy Word. 


    In Jesus’ name, amen. 

    Introduction – the Halo Effect 

    There’s the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.” And the point is that we shouldn’t judge things merely by outward appearances or what’s on the surface level. 

    As people, we have a tendency to make assumptions about other people. 

    To give an example. There’s been vast psychological research into attractiveness. If all we have to go on is looks, we assume that a beautiful person is also nice, and intelligent, and competent. 

    Without any corroborative information. 

    If we think something good about someone, we’re likely to have other good associations with them. . 

    We take limited information and make larger assumptions. 

    It’s the same reason why leading male actors in movies are almost universally tall, unless a shorter stature is relevant to the story. 

    Even if the actor himself is short, they will utilize lifts in shoes, smaller props, and camera angles to make him look tall. Because we associate height with dominance and power. 

    And it works out in the real world. In a survey of Fortune 500 CEO’s, they averaged being 2.5” taller than the average person. 

    Of the 11 U.S. presidents since 1960, only one was shorter than 5’11” and the last president we had who was below average was William McKinley, almost 120 years ago. 

    We take limited information and make assumptions about a person. 

    It’s why we have family political dynasties because we assume competence to someone who’s related to someone else we like

    We judge books by their covers. 

    We’ll have more on that in a little bit. 

    Series context 

    We’re resuming in the Gospel of John this morning. 

    And to remind us of where we are in this gospel. Jesus has arrived at the Feast of Booths. And as we’ve discussed before, the Feast of Booths is an annual Jewish celebration in the fall which looked back to the time when the Israelites had to reside in the wilderness during their desert wanderings, it was a celebration of the fall harvest, and also looked forward to the following year. 

    And as we’ve talked about the autumn Jewish holidays over the last couple of weeks, this year’s Feast of Booths is actually currently happening this week. 

    But turning back to our passage. It’s the Feast of Booths and Jesus is in Jerusalem for the feast. He’s teaching in the synagogue and this is causing a stir among a new audience as well as the ruling authorities. It’s a passage where we’ll see themes relating to divine authority, the law of Moses and where we’ll revisit a controversy that Jesus has already been involved with in this gospel.

    We’ll look at this passage in three scenes.

    First scene – Misunderstanding Jesus 

     Verse 14 is where the passage begins: About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 

    John mentions it’s the middle of the feast. The feast of booths lasts 8 days. But the point isn’t so much that it was exactly day 4 or exactly day 5, but that Jesus begins teaching at the temple at some point in the middle of the week long celebration. 

    Verse 15, the crowd responds to Jesus:  The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

    We don’t know specifically what Jesus has been teaching but the crowd is impressed with Jesus’ understanding of the scriptures and teaching of the scriptures. They knew that Jesus had not learned under any of the well known rabbis of the day and so they question how he has acquired this education. 

    For most Jewish boys in Jesus’ lifetime, your schooling ended in early adolescence, and then you generally moved into the profession of your father. For some who were especially bright, they might have continued in rabbinical training where they learned at the tutelage of a rabbi and this took several years. And having an academic pedigree mattered to the ruling authorities. 

    But Jesus did not have that. There would have been those who would have discounted what Jesus had to say because of that. Grant Osborne’s commentary of John points out that rabbis in Jesus’ day anchored much of their teaching and theology into what rabbis who had preceded them had said. People in academic circles still do this. 

    This type of elitism is certainly not unique to Jesus’ day. There are domains today where people expect a certain pedigree. Of the eight justices currently on the Supreme Court, all eight graduated law school at Harvard or Yale.

    I looked up men who have been the Chief of Operations for the United States Navy. Basically, the person who’s in charge of the navy. Of 32 men who have held that post, all but two have gone to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. 

    There were leading rabbinical figures in Jesus’ day. And Jesus hadn’t sat at their feet or learned from them. 

    After the ministry of Jesus, his disciples would still deal with this intellectual prejudice.

    Acts chapter 4, Peter and John appear before a ruling council of the Jewish leaders. 

    And we again see the low expectations of the council. 

    Acts 4:13: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.

    In fact, there are still scholars today who look at the fact that Peter would not have had much in the way of formal education and question if he was even capable of writing a book like 2 Peter, which is considered some of the highest level Greek in the New Testament. 

    It’s similar when people question Jesus’ family and background. 

    Matthew 13:53-55: 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son?

    We see the same thing at the beginning of John’s Gospel when the first disciples are following Jesus. Philip is enamoured with Jesus but his brother is not so sure, in sights his hometown as a justification for his prejudice. 

    John 1:45-46: Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

    And here again, the crowd marvels at Jesus and they question:  “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?

    I spoke in the beginning about not judging a book by its cover. People made all sorts of assumptions about Jesus based on little information throughout his ministry. But as is so often the case in the Bible, the things that we can be tempted to criticize in others are not always so different from our own sins and flaws.Because we’re all prone to rushing to conclusions and unfair judgments of people. 

    It can be based on appearance, based on how a person dresses or looks. In a small town where so many of the families are known, we can make unfair judgments about a person based on who their family is. If it’s a good family, we can assume good things. 

    And if it’s not such a good family, or an infamous family, we can also unfairly judge people based on background rather than who they are. 

    Again, I think it’s something that we’re all susceptible to. We don’t have perfect knowledge. We’re fallible people.  But I think it’s important to be proactive in showing fairness to people. 

    In James 2, the Lord’s brother James describes a situation in the assembly where the Christians are showing partiality and bias. 


    James 2:1: My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory

    James goes on to describe a situation where two types of people come to church. 

    James continues: if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

    The point is that we do have a tendency as sinful and fallen people to make such judgments. 

    But that that is sinful. 

    And it’s actually an idea to which Jesus will again refer at the end of this passage. 

    7:24:  Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

    Again, it’s important to know the temptation to judge a book by its cover. But as Christians, it’s important to actively work against that. Because it’s an easy trap that anyone can fall into. 

    So that’s our first scene. How the world misunderstands Jesus. 

    We come to a second scene.  

    Second scene – The God Jesus points to

    So the crowd questions Jesus. It’s worth pointing out that there’s nothing wrong with them wanting to know where Jesus’ ideas come from. 

    It’s just that the problem was the ruling authorities put too much stock into man made systems as the authenticator. They’re counting on their assumptions about teaching and about the Messiah instead of on the scriptures. 

    Verse 16-17, Jesus responds: Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 

    Jesus’ teachings come from the ultimate source. Jesus has come with a divine message.

    Again, in the rabbinical tradition, teachings were often looked at in light of historical precedent. 

    But what if the initial teachings were wrong? Or flawed? 

    It was still ultimately the teachings of men. 

     If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 

    As Jesus has done throughout this gospel, he confronts the audience – and us the readers – with another bold claim. 

    If you truly desire to know the will of God, you will know that what Jesus is teaching is from God. 

    Put more simply: to know God is to know Jesus. 

    Let’s unpack that. And let’s look at this statement in our own lives. 

     If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 

    It’s both an ethical statement and a theological statement. 

    If you desire to do God’s will, to live out God’s will, that person will be able to recognize whether or not Jesus’ teaching is merely opinion or whether or not its of divine authority. 

    But how? 

    Because of the gospel. 

    Let’s work through the gospel in understanding why Jesus statement is true. 

    Beginning with sin. 

    Romans 3 has one of the great summaries in the Bible of the human condition. 3:10-12: 

    “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 

    It is the natural disposition of fallen humanity to not desire God or the things of God. It is through the regenerative effect of the gospel that a person  has a desire for the will of God. 

    Titus 3:4-6: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

    So our desire for God is not something that we simply decide to have, but it’s a result of regeneration whereby we are given God’s Spirit. 

    2 Corinthians 2, Paul talks about the natural man and the Spiritual man. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)  

    So. It is not we ourselves who desire the truth of God but it is God working in us through the Spirit. And so it is true that to desire to know the will of God that we are necessarily led to the affirmation of who Jesus is. A desire for the will of God leads us to the truth of God and to Jesus who is himself the truth. 

    But that’s only part of the equation. Because anyone could make the statement that Jesus made. In fact, others have. As we’ve discussed before. But to further authenticate that Jesus himself is the one uniquely sent form God, we have the life and ministry of Jesus. 

    It is not merely big talk. 

    But that Jesus’ life and ministry are unimpeachable through his righteousness, through his teachings. Furthermore, his miracles speak to his divinely appointed ministry. And his death and resurrection point us to the truth of his gospel. That as he died and rose, we who are dead in sin have the promise of eternal life. 

    And we’re left with the overarching truth that a desire to follow the will of God will always lead us to the Son of God. 

    Given the Spiritual aspect of faith, we cannot truly seek God and be led in the wrong direction. 

    You might be tempted to ask “well then why are there so many other religions?” 

    Because men love darkness rather than the light. (John 3:19) 

    As Paul warned Timothy: the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

    Proverbs 21:2 says:  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

    The world likes to earn righteousness and salvation on its own and the Bible constantly points us to the reality that we cannot. Nearly every other religion works on a scale of righteousness and sins. But it is through the gospel, that we have a message of grace. Seeking the will of God leads to Christ.

    To attempt to follow any other way is idolatry. 

    As Hebrews 11:6 tells us, it is impossible to please God without faith. 

    Continuing in our passage. 

    Verse 18, Jesus says: The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

    Jesus points again to the authority and glory of God. And Jesus himself is glorious. He is perfect. He is divine. 

    Think of the things the world applauds and celebrates? We create awards for ourselves. People who have enough prestige or wealth built monuments to themselves. Pay for schools or buildings to be named after themselves. 

    The world loves to bring itself glory. 

    Yet Jesus walked the earth to point to the glory of God. 

    As Paul wrote to the Philippians: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8) 

    I think that’s a powerful example for all of us. 

    To live humbly. 

    To live to bring glory to God. To seek to bring God glory in every domain of our lives. As spouses and parents and grandparents. As friends, siblings, and fellow church members. In our jobs. Among our neighbors. Everything we do should be to the glory of God and point to God. The great composer Johan Sebastian Bach used to sign the initials S.D.G. to his church compositions. It stood for the Latin phrase Soli Deo Gloria which means “Glory to God alone.” 

    And that should be the heart we have for everything we do in our lives. 

    For the glory of God. 

    In the Westminster Catechism, it asks: what is the chief end of man? 

    And the response is: man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 

    1 Corinthians 10:31 sums it up well: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

    Jesus lived a perfect life. He did not tell people he was glorious, he displayed glory through his signs. He didn’t tell people perfect, he showed people his perfection through his perfect life. And so we have Jesus who is glorious, who is righteous, who is perfect, the one in whom the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell, yet he came ito the world and was submissive to God and followed the will of God. We’re just people. Finite and frail people. We were created to bring God glory, not to glorify ourselves or to glorify men. Because we’re not glorious. 

    So we’ve seen how the world understands Jesus and the God Jesus points to. 

    We come to a third scene which is the law Jesus fulfills. 

    Third scene – the law he fulfills 

    Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

    Verse 19, Jesus says that these people have the law of the Old Testament and that none of them keeps it. 

    I think there are layers of meaning to that statement. None of you keeps the Law. First, it’s true that no one keeps it in that no one keeps it perfectly and that everyone is sinful. Except Jesus. Secondly, we see their failure to oversee the Law in the fact that they’re seeking to kill Jesus. 

    For the experts in the Law, the religious leaders, the beginning of the passage has already informed us that they sought to kill Jesus.

    Despite the fact that Jesus is righteous. He never sinned. He broke no laws. He certainly never committed a capital offense. They would plot against Jesus. They would bring false accusations and trumped up charges against him. 

    That was a violation of the law. It’s also true on a third level in that the law and the prophets point to Jesus. So Jesus asks “Has not Moses given you the Law?”

    Having the law was a great source of pride for the Israelites, but if their ruling authorities truly understood that law, they would know to whom it pointed. 

    Jesus has already told this to a group of Jewish leaders in chapter 5. In chapter 5, Jesus has given a lengthy address in the aftermath of healing a paralyzed man on the Sabbath. 

    Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” 

    To truly know God is to know Jesus. Pause for a second. I’ve thrown a lot at you. In chapter 5, Jesus was also at the temple in Jerusalem speaking to a group. 

    It seems reasonable that not everyone listening to him in chapter 7 was in that original group. 

    So some people are totally confused by what Jesus has said. They think he’s crazy. 

    Verse 20: The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

    And as we’ve seen many times in this gospel, Jesus responds to a question by not answering it. 

    Jesus has talked about the plot to kill him. 

    But where does that come from?

    Yes, we saw it a couple weeks ago at the very beginning of chapter 7. 

    Just as a reminder, John 7:1 says: “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.”

    But the origin of the Jewish leaders seeking to kill Jesus originally starts in chapter 5. It’s in the wake of Jesus heals theparalyzed man on the Sabbath. This is looked at as being a violation of the Sabbath. Jesus responds that his father is working on the Sabbath and so is he. 

    And it is that incident to which Jesus refers when he responds to the crowd in verse 21. Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.

    The one work was the healing on the Sabbath. That becomes evident as he continues speaking. 

    Stay with me, we’re almost done. 

    Verses 22-23: 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?

    Let’s try to tie all of this together. 

    Jesus goes directly to the heart of the Sabbath. And this ties into what he’s just been saying to the pharisees regarding the Law of Moses and the fact that they don’t keep it. 

    They don’t truly understand the law. They don’t truly understand the Old Testament. 

    Their failure to recognize Jesus shows that. 

    Their desire to kill Jesus shows that. 

    And so Jesus makes a comparison between circumcision and the Sabbath. 

    Both of these are integral elements of Judaism. 

    Both of which were Judaic practices which actually pre-dated the time of Moses. We see the Sabbath in creation and it’s observance is commanded prior to the Ten Commandments. And we see circumcision given to Abraham. 

    But then you also have them both in the Law of Moses. 

    Circumcision and the Sabbath. 

    Now Abraham was commanded that all of his offspring must be circumcised on the eighth day after they’re born. 

    But what about when the eighth day is the Sabbath? 

    The male was still circumcised. 

    And as Jesus says in verse 23, that was not a violation of the law. 

    And so Jesus asks the religious leaders: are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?

    You can circumcise a baby on the Sabbath but you can’t heal a man on the Sabbath? 

    Leon Morris adds a helpful note in his commentary. Jesus is not undermining the Sabbath. He’s not criticizing the Sabbath. He’s not liberalizing the Sabbath. 

    He’s pointing them to the heart of the Sabbath. 

    The Jewish leaders could see the rationale to circumcise a baby. Even on the Sabbath. But they couldn’t see the justification of healing someone? 

    The law is not arbitrary. The law is not just a list of commands for the sake of commands.

    The law points to God, points to holiness, points to life. 

    Now circumcision does not have the religious significance for us that it did and does for observant Jews. But for them, it was profoundly meaningful. It was a God-given symbol of the covenant. And Jesus talks of healing the entire person. 

    That act of love and grace had more to do with the heart of the Law and the heart of the Old Testament, than the unnecessary rigidity of the ruling authorities. 

    At the end of our passage, Jesus says in verse 24:  Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” 

    They needed to hear that because they weren’t doing that. 

    And it is because they were not judging with proper judgment that they got both Jesus wrong and the law wrong. 

    They got God wrong. And so they didn’t understand his law or what it pointed to. They had a worldly perspective not a heavenly perspective. 

    They had  rigid view of the law, not a loving and gracious view of the law. 

    They had manmade opinions about the Messiah, and so they missed the Messiah when he was right in front of them. 

    They weren’t judging based on truth. 

    They didn’t truly know God and so they couldn’t understand the one whom God sent. 

    They didn’t truly know the heart of the law and so they could not appreciate the heart of God. 

    Jesus pointed to a greater revelation from God. A greater fulfillment of the law and the true understanding of the law. 

    And what this passage ultimately teaches is that we cannot get Jesus wrong and God right. 

    Because God’s word points to Jesus. His will was to send Jesus. His righteousness is lived out through Jesus. His wrath is absorbed by Jesus. His creation is redeemed through Jesus. 

  • Sermon: Feast of burden – John 7:1-13

    0197 

    Text

    After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 

    6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 

    10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. 

    Prayer

    Our heavenly Father, 

    We continue to see the extreme division in our nation. 

    It says in Your Word: 

     God reigns over the nations; 

    God sits on his holy throne. 

    9 The princes of the peoples gather 

    as the people of the God of Abraham. 

    For the shields of the earth belong to God; 

    he is highly exalted! 

    May we continually be mindful of that. Lord, you are on the throne, you are our hope. 

    Lord God, let us not be swayed by the whims of the world, but let us be grounded in the truth of who you are. 

    Lord, we ask that you bless our time in your Word. May we come to you and praise you. 

    In Jesus’ name, amen. 

    Introduction 

    We come to John chapter 7. 

    Several weeks ago when we started chapter 6, I had mentioned that chapters 6, 7, and 8 are a section of John where we see a lot of themes which take us back to the Exodus event and the Israelite wanderings. 

    We certainly saw that in the feeding of the multitudes as that harkened back to God’s provision of manna for the Israelites during their wanderings. 

    That will continue in this chapter, especially as we consider the feasts which were instituted during the Exodus event. 

    We also saw it in the time of year as the beginning of chapter 6 told us it was Passover. Passover, the Jewish holy day which celebrated God’s redeptive work of freeing the Israelties from slavery in Egypt. It would also be at a Passover when Jesus is crucified. In tht 6, John 6 was the beginning – give or take a few days – of the last year of Jesus’ life. 

    Chapter 5 had also been at a feast, although John doesn’t specify which feast it was. 

    Chapter 7 will begin at yet another feast, the Feast of Booths. 

    And that’s definitely something that John likes to do in this gospel is tie events in Jesus’ life and ministry to their correspondence to the Jewish holy days. 

    And in that, we see that Jesus is the greater fulfillment of the Jewish feasts and what they ultimately point to. 

    So it’s the time of year of the Jewish Feast of Booths, and Jesus’ attendance at the feast will come into question and we’ll look at this morning’s passage in three scenes. 

    1. A conflict

    Verse 1: After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

    John begins this passage “after this” and he’s referring to Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. We had concluded that chapter in looking at the way people responded to Jesus. Some walked away and others followed him. 

    John says “after this Jesus went about in Galilee.” 

    It’s actually been about six months since the last event which John recorded. We know that because the last chapter was at the time of Passover, in the spring; as verse 2 will tell us, this is the Feast of Booths, which is in the fall. The math is pretty simple. 

    Jesus was in Galilee and John adds that he would not go about in the region of Judea because the Jewish leaders were seeking to kill him. 

    That’s not the first time we’ve seen opposition in John’s Gospel, but it really begins to pick up starting in this seventh chapter. 

    By no means a light hearted disagreement, but bloody opposition as there were people who wanted to see Jesus dead. 

    Verse 2: Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 

    We’ve already noted that. The timing of the Feast of Booths, when Jesus should go, and when he did go are all important elements in this passage. 

    Verse 3: So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.  4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

    We see Jesus’ brothers who were originally introduced in John’s Gospel at the Wedding Feast at Cana in chapter 2. 

    They suggest Jesus go to Judea and they point out that “no one works in secret but seeks to be known openly.” Their point seems to be that “if you want people to believe in you, you’ve got to be seen! You’ve gotta market yourself.” Cinderella had better go to the ball. 

    It’s interesting. 

    Jesus’ brothers give him advice. 

    I think of the areas where we like to have opinions when we’re not truly teh experts on the topic. Play calls in football, military strategies, foreign policy decisions. We have opinions on what doctors should or shouldn’t do.

    I’m not judging that. I have opinions on things too. 

    But we aren’t experts in every domain of life. A lot of our information comes from people who actually are experts. 

    But here we have Jesus’ brothers telling him that he should go to Judea so that his works can be seen. 

    They’re telling God what he should do! 

    The all-knowing, all wise, righteous Lord needs advice from his younger brothers. 

    It’s not all that different from how the world often treats God, his word. We make our own moral judgements about God’s wisdom when we sin. 

    I think of God’s providence but we so often rebel and grumble against that. I understand the value of lament of the hurt that our sin and the sin in the world causes. 

    But it can also be tempting to look at situations and to forget that God is all-knowing, all-good and that he is working ll things together for good (Romans 8:28). And in that, we can judge God’s providence and perfect will.

    We can do the same thing for things that God allows to happen in nature or in the world where we judge God for allowing it to happen. 

    The world likes to judge God for being a righteous judge. The world likes to judge God for punishing sin. The world likes to try to dictate to God what love is, what justice is, what goodness is. 

    For commands in scripture with which we disagree, we like to find reasons why they don’t apply. 

    On and on. 

    Isaiah 45:9 says: Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? 

    The point of that verse is that fallen humanity is the clay who complains against the potter who made us. 

    In our pride and sinfulness, humanity – in our heart of hearts – likes to think we know better than God. 

    There’s irony that Jesus’ brothers suggest to him what he should do. 

    Now, there’s debate among scholars as to why they gave him this advice. 

    Are they just being supportive brothers giving advice? 

    That’s possible. 

    Although it should be noted that verse 5 says his brothers didn’t believe in him.

    That is to say that they did not believe in his Lordship.  

    Jesus’ brothers have a lifetime of seeing his righteousness, they’ve seen his signs. But they don’t believe in who he is. 

    Richard Phillips says in his commentary “if anything can prove the depravity of the human heart, it is this.” 

    Sometimes people say that they don’t believe in God because they don’t feel like they have enough evidence. 

    In the Bible, you see people interacting with Jesus, seeing his ministry and miracles. Who don’t believe. 

    In the Old Testament, Abraham had personally been given the promise of God for land and offspring. But we still see him struggle with doubts at time. We see him respond with laughter at the idea that him and Sarah could have a child in their old age. 

    You see the Israelites miraculously freed from slavery. The parting of the Red Sea. But then they quickly turn to idolatry. They had decades of God providing for them and sustaining them in their wanderings, and yet they fell into grumbling. 

    It’s easy to think that if we had a little more of the picture, a little more of a sense of God, then everything in our life of faith would suddenly be so easy. 

    That would not change that we’re still sinful people. 

    Jesus’ brothers had been in his presence for their entire lifetime and, at this point, they did not believe. 

    Think about the great Spiritual privilege that was! 

    I know we can feel a real sense of burden, a real sense of responsibility for people in our own families who are not believers. 

    We should care about that. We should pray for our families, pray for opportunities to share the gospel, to talk about faith. But we must remember that no matter who you are, how good you are, how faithful you are, it’s beyond your control. 

    Jesus had a real life family who interacted with him and lived with him and yet they still struggled. And while we’re on the subject of Jesus’ brothers, there’s another brief point that warrants mention. 

    Jesus had siblings. 

    The historical teaching of the Catholic Church is that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. That’s not supported in the Bible, and is actually contradicted in the Bible. These are siblings. Some have argued that maybe they’re other relatives, such as cousins. 

    Greek has a word for cousin. That’s not what they use here. 

    Jesus had siblings. He had a family.

    His siblings are referenced other places in the New Testament. 

    Matthew 13, his brothers are named. 

    Matthew 13:55-56: Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us?

    Jesus had a family. 

    And guess what? 

     
    One of the things that we see in the gospels is that Jesus had a sometimes complicated relationship with his family. 

    So if you think your family is dysfunctional…just remember that there were people who were related to Jesus and they did not really understand him or always get along with him. 

    That’s not to say that Jesus ever sinned. He didn’t. 

    But we do see examples in the other gospels of familial strain. 

    Mark 3:20-21, Jesus is growing in popularity and crowds are following him. But we see a response of his family early in his ministry. 

    20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” 

    As our passage explicitly tells us, Jesus’ brothers did not believe. 

    At least some of his brothers eventually came to faith. Two books in the New Testament are written by brothers of Jesus: James and Jude. 

    But at this point in his ministry, when we’re in the last six or so months of Jesus’ life, they do not believe. 

    So we’ve seen the unsolicited advice of Jesus’ brothers. 

    There’s another comment that warrants mention by way of application. I think of how important it is to have a strong family. I think about when I was nearing the end of seminary. I was single and considering different ministry opportunities. 

    I knew I eventually wanted to be the teaching pastor of a church, but part of the reason why I didn’t immediately go that route was because I thought it would be so much harder to do as a single person.

    It’s important to have the support of a family. 

    Jesus endured a lot during his ministry. In this passage, there are people plotting against him. There were people who wanted to use Jesus to suit their own ends. There were people in Jesus’ inner circle who betrayed him. There were people who plotted against him. 

    And through all of that, aside from Mary, we don’t see any support for Jesus from his own family. 

    There are so many ways how Jesus relates to us in his humanity. Family dysfunction is one of many. 

    Continuing in our passage. 

    Jesus responds to them. 

    II. We come to our second scene – divine will 

    Verses 6-8: Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”

    Jesus says “my time has not yet come.” 

    I think the point is that his point of going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths has not yet come. 

    He is not on man’s schedule or timeline. 

    Jesus’ brothers suggest that Jesus capitalize on the autumn holidays and go to present himself in Jerusalem. 

    They tell him what they would have done, but they didn’t see the world the way Jesus did. 

    There are several reasons why it’s not the right time. 

    As the beginning of the chapter informed us, there were Jewish leaders who were seeking to kill Jesus. 

    But more importantly, Jesus is always sensitive to the divine will. 

    John 5:30, Jesus said:  

    I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

    We see in the gospels that Jesus is led by God. 

    Matthew 4:1

    Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil

    Richard Phillips’ commentary points out that God had ordained a specific time for the birth of Christ. 

    Galatians 4:4: 

    when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law

    God had ordained a specific time for the death of Christ.

    John 17:1: 

    When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

    And he had ordained the timing for the events in Jesus’ life and ministry. 

    Again, Jesus’ brothers wanted him to show himself, his signs, make a big display at this feast. That was not the divine will and that is why Jesus was saying the time had not come for him to go to the feast. 

    Because he was on God’s timeline, not man’s timeline. 

    Jesus tells his brothers in verse 6: 

     your time is always here.

    Their time is always here because their focus and mission is still the things of the world, not the things of God. And so it doesn’t matter when they go to Jerusalem. 

    But Jesus’ time has not yet come because he is serving heavenly purposes.

    Verse 7, Jesus specifically connects his brothers to the sinful world. 

    The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 

    The world doesn’t hate Jesus’ brothers because they’re following the way of the world. 

    But Jesus came to bring light into a dark world and the world hates that. 

    John 3:19: this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

    Jesus continues speaking. 

    Verse 8: You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”

    I find verse 8 to be the most interesting verse in this passage. 

    Jesus tells his brothers to go to the feast. That’s straightforward enough. 

    But Jesus says that he will not be going up to “this feast.”

    It’s interesting that it’s translated “I am not going up to this feast” instead of “I am not going up to the feast.” 

    The ESV, NASB, NIV, King James all say “this” and not “the.” 

    If Jesus says “I am not going to the feast,” it would seem that he’s saying that he’s not going to the Feast of Booths that’s being celebrated.

    But when he says “I’m not going to this feast,” that seems to imply that he is going up to another feast. 

    The wording “going up” is also interesting. 

    Now from where Jesus was in Galilee, to go to Jerusalem, there actually is a change in elevation where you literally would be going up to Jerusalem. But as we see so many times in this gospel, I think Jesus’ words have a double meaning. 

    Jesus uses the phrase about “going up,” “lifted up,” “ascending” in other places of this gospel. I think it refers to Jesus being lifted up on the cross and that when Jesus says that it’s not the time for him to go up to this feast, he’s looking forward to the future feast that he would go up to: the Passover the following spring when he would go to the cross. 

    And that brings us to our third scene in the passage. 

    III. The feast 

    Verse 9: After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

    Jesus goes to the feast. 

    Just two verses before, I thought Jesus had said he wasn’t going. 

    He wasn’t going on the timeline of his brothers. 

    He was on the divine timeline. 

    Jesus does not go to make a grand entrance at this feast, but he has quietly gone to attend. He’s one among the many Israelites who have gone to Jerusalem to observe the holiday. 

    Jesus goes in private, but there were people on the lookout for him as the opposition to Jesus was increasing. 

    11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. 

    There’s a buzz about Jesus. There are people at the feast who wanted to see him. 

    We see the differing opinions that some were favorable to Jesus while others feared he was leading people astray. 

    But just as Jesus had gone to the feast in private, we see that the response to Jesus is also largely in private, most likely for fear of the ruling authorities possibly retaliating against people who were sympathetic to Jesus’ message and teachings. 

    So the passage ends with Jesus at the Feast of Booths. He’s in private, but as the passage unfolds in the following weeks, we’ll see Jesus more and more come to the forefront at this feast. 

    Feast of Booths 

    We talked a little bit about the Feast of Booths in the very beginning. 

    Providentially, it’s pretty good timing in the year to come to this event in chapter 7 when the Israelites are celebrating the Feast of Booths. There are three Jewish holy days in the fall. 

    Rosh hashanah which is the New Year in Judaism. That actually falls this weekend. 

    A second holy day is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement which is a one of the most sacred days in Jewish life which is represents atoning sacrifice and forgiveness. 

    That’s next weekend. 

    And the third major Jewish Holy Day is the Feast of Booths, which is happening in our passage this morning. The Feast of Booths is how it gets translated in John. 

    I don’t love that translation for “booths.” 

    I hear “booth,” I think of a restaurant boof. 

    More literally, it’s the Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes called the Feast of Tents. It’s also called the Feast of Ingathering. Those are all referring to the same thing. In Hebrew, the feast is called Sukkot. 

    Sukkot is an 8 day celebration. It is a joyous celebration that corresponds to the fall harvest and a time of thankfulness and it also calls attention back to the Israelite wanderings in the desert for 40 years. 

    The significance of sleeping in tents was that it was reminiscent of the Israelites sleeping in man made structures during their time of desert wanderings. The feast has a lot of resonance to the desert wanderings of Israel.

    Sleeping in tents was also paying homage to Jewish farmers who sometimes had to sleep in these types of structures during their time of harvest. 

    And for eight days, Jewish people slept in these tents that they made. 

    Sukkot includes water and light ceremonies which will both become relevant in this chapter and we Jesus will explain how these elements ultimately point to him. 

    This year, Sukkot will fall from October 2-9. So again, we’re at the same time of year as that holy day.  

    A day like yom kippur, the day of atonement, is meaningful, but it’s not like a joyous celebration. It’s a pretty somber event. It calls our sin to mind. It’s like Good Friday.

    But it was a meaningful, festive holiday. It also had agricultural ties as did many of the Jewish feasts. 

    Richard Phillips’ commentary is again helpful in considering the feasts. 

    I mentioned some of the fall holy days. 

    But in the Israelite calendar, you also had three pilgrimage feasts where Jewish people in the first century would have traveled into Jerusalem from all over Israel. 

    The first was Passover. 

    Passover was in the spring.

    Obviously it was Passover when Jesus was to give his life as a sacrifice. 

    Passover is remembering God’s deliverance of Israel. It’s symbolized by the sacrifice of lambs. Jesus is the perfect and spotless Passover lamb who was sacrificed to deliver and redeem people from their slavery to sin. 

    Passover points to salvation. 

    About seven weeks after Passover, you have the Feast of Weeks, also called Pentecost. That’s the second of the pilgrimage festivals.

    Passover coincided with the time of year when the Israelites left Egypt. Pentecost – 7 weeks later – coincided with the time of year when God gave the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai. 

    And certainly both of those days have resonance in Christianity. 

    Passover is the time of year when we celebrate Good Friday and Easter. 

    Pentecost Sunday commemorates God pouring out his Spirit on the early church. 

    And so we have this progression in the year between Passover to Pentecost to the Feast of Booths. 

    But there is also a progression that you have Easter, before the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. And for the Isrealites, the Feast of Booths was a fall harvest celebration that also looked forward to a time of future hope in God’s promises. 

    Feast of Booths was a time that looked forward. For the Israelites, they looked forward to the coming year. They looked forward to next year’s planting. 

    Zechariah 14 pointed forward to a future time when he talked of people from the nations coming to Jerusalem together to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 

    Zechariah 14:16: everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 

    And so when Jesus’ brothers want him to make a grand entrance at the Feast of Booths, the timing was not right. Feast of Booths was a celebration, but before that celebration would be appropriate, the Lord Jesus needed to endure the cross. 

    As Phillips says “they were advising him to put on a crown without first taking up his cross.” 

    That is why Jesus could not go to the festival on his brothers’ terms. 

    It was not the right time. 

    It’s interesting. 

    He goes up to the Feast of Booths. Again, I prefer Feast of Tabernacles. 

    As I’ve mentioned many times in our study of John, Jesus is the true tabernacle. 

    He’s the place where we meet God in the world. 

    So one last time, consider the situation. 

    It’s the Feast of Tabernacles and the true tabernacle is there. But he goes quietly, and largely unnoticed because sinful humanity wants to see him killed. 

    And just as the Feast of Tabernacles was a time when the Jewish people looked forward to a future hope, the true tabernacle, Jesus: the presence of God in the world went up to Jerusalem a final time for Passover where he would go up on the cross and give up his life so that the same sinful world who killed him could have redemption through his death and resurrection.