John 7:1–24 – That You May Believe
2nd Sunday in Epiphany  – January 19, 2025 (am)     

Every once in a while when we’re hearing from Jesus, He makes a statement that reverberates well beyond the parameters of the specific topic He’s addressing at the moment. I’m not meaning that some of His statements are more true than others. I’m just saying that some of His statements are more broad in their meaning. They cause us to pause and ponder. They give us instruction or encouragement or understanding that’s useful in more settings than just the immediate one He was addressing when He said it. Today’s text includes such a statement. And we’ll get to it in due course. But first let’s walk through this passage that gives us a rare glimpse into Jesus’ life with His earthly family before it moves on to the Feast of Booths which the whole nation was supposed to attend in Jerusalem (Lev.23:33-43). Let’s explore this account in two parts.

A Familiarity that Appears Desirable – 1-9

1 After this, some indefinite time after the bread of life (6:25-70) discussion, Jesus went about in Galilee. This was the period of His ministry on which the other Gospel writers spent most of their time (Carson 1991 305). He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him, a clear reference back to c.5 where He healed the paralyzed man by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, then identified His work with the Father’s work (5:1-17). At that point, John wrote: 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Conflict and opposition had been building since then.

2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand, one the three annually (Exo.23:14-17) when the Jews would travel to Jerusalem and celebrate as a nation. This one remembered God’s provision historically during the exodus, but also His immediate provision through this year’s harvest.

But here, now, is where it gets interesting. We see very few glimpses into Jesus’ natural family in the Gospels, but here is one of those places. His younger half-brothers first gave Him a recommendation, and then some advice. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples, speaking broadly of those who were beginning to believe in Him, also may see the works you are doing. There’s the recommendation. Now the advice: 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. You’ve got to do a better job marketing your ministry, Jesus, anyone can see that. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” The only thing that wrong with this advice is that it’s rooted in the ways of the world (κόσμος, don’t miss the irony: that which cannot receive Him without ceasing to be the ‘world’ [cf. Carson 1991 307]). Some try to make this a sort of mocking exchanged between Jesus and His brothers, but it seems at once both sincere and misguided, the sort of confusion we might expect to meet in this unbelieving world. And that is John’s point: 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. That changed after the resurrection, but this is how it was here.

6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come—not my hour (ὥρα, cf. 2:4) but my time (καιρός), a different word used by John only here and v.8 to refer not to the hour of Jesus’ glorification but to the time of his going up to [the] Feast (Carson 1991 307-8)—but your time is always here. Jesus is saying: It makes no real difference when you go. But, in essence, I can go only when the Father directs Me to do so. I’m on mission here, so my actions matter; they make a difference with regard to what the Father is doing in this world. You’re actually part of the world, so when you go up to the feast won’t have any real impact on the fulfillment of God’s plan. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil—as part of God’s plan. 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.

I call this section familiarity that appears desirable because we can often feel like being physically close to Jesus would be so much better that this seemingly distant relationship of faith we have today. But passages like this let us know that we could be right next to Jesus, even genetically related as family, yet still a world away from Him. Praise God for His Spirit.

A Yearning that Displays Authenticity – 10-24

Jesus’ brothers, then, show us what it looks like to be part of the world; they just don’t get Jesus. But in this section we’re going to see a key characteristic of those who do—what distinguishes them from the world. Let’s begin. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then His time came, he also went up, not publicly, though, but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, expecting Him, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering, disagreement, 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. This sounds like the Jewish leaders were tired of hearing about Jesus and that word had spread.

Now the action starts. 14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. Privacy is past! 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” A good question. 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. If you’re willing to receive My teaching as from God, you’ll see that it is! But even more specific to Jesus’ meaning here: If you’re willing to do what God says, you’ll recognize that my teaching is supplying just what you need. In other words: I’m giving you God’s will, and you’ll see that. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, the one who tries to pass off his teaching as his own; 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? [Didn’t you receive your teaching from him?] Yet none of you keeps the law. [You’re not even doing what your teacher says!] What does the law say? How about Psa.40: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. Then Jesus cuts to the chase: Why do you seek to kill me?” This was likely meant as clear evidence that they were law-breakers; we know from 5:18 and 7:1 that plots to kill Jesus were already forming among the Jewish leaders. But this crowd was made up of much more than just Jewish leaders, so some knew nothing about that. From this point forward, this subject is open! But here and now: 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” He sounded crazy to them, even paranoid (Carson 1991 314). Rather than pressing this point, Jesus just drew back to mind the scene where putting Him to death was first mentioned: the healing of that thirty-eight-year paralytic on a Sabbath when He claimed to be doing God’s work in a way that [made] himself equal with God (5:1-18). 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, I healed one man, 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, a mere marking of one part of his body that indicates he belongs to the people of God, those who are promised salvation, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well, dramatically displaying something of the fulfillment of that promise? Bottom line: 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

So, did you hear the yearning that displays authenticity? V.17 stands at the heart of this text as the indication of what separated those who wanted to kill Jesus from those who wanted to follow Him (1:37, 40, 43), those who were just intrigued with Him (6:2) from those who were truly drawn to Him (6:68-69). It distinguished between those who may have thought they believed in his name because they were impressed by the signs that he was doing from those who truly trusted in Him revealing that He’d entrusted himself to them (2:23-25).

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. There’s a clear statement. There’s a way each of us can begin to see the work of God in our own hearts, and in the hearts of one another, and in the heart of our church collectively. Do we will to do God’s will? Do we purpose to follow Jesus’ teaching? Do we want His will ahead of our own? Do we love His will more than our own? Do we pursue His will above of our own? Do we pray with genuine heart-longing, Mat.6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?

Do we accept His assignments and pursue them with joyful devotion or do we fight with them, wishing we’d been given something else to do, or maybe just somewhere else to do it? Do we embrace our infirmities, confident that Phi.3:20 … our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, [our] Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who… will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (tniv)?

Conclusion

Does the will of God trump and triumph over our own? Do we will to do God’s will above all else? That’s the statement from Jesus in this passage that reverberates well beyond the parameters of the specific topic He was addressing at the moment. There’s a statement that helps us recognize the work of God in our hearts when we read that 6:44 No one can come to [Jesus] unless the Father who sent [Him] draws him. We can see what that drawing looks like, the changes it begins to make within us.

If you’ve not trusted Christ as Savior but you’re beginning to sense within your heart a desire, an impulse, a will to do God’s will, don’t ignore that. Pursue it! Follow it and see where it leads!

And those of us who have trusted Christ, here is a good test for us when the flesh begins to rear its ugly head. Is our will in any given matter well-aligned with God’s? In today’s battle, today’s walk, today’s mindset, do we will to do God’s will? Do we want it more than our own? And are we persuaded that His will truly is best, more desirable, more fulling, more rewarding, more satisfying to the very depths of our souls?

There’s our take-away today; it distinguished between those whom Jesus was talking to at the Feast of Booths back then, and it still distinguishes between genuine believers in Him and all others who just appreciate Him—is it [your] will to do God’s will? (17)

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Resources

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Bruce, F. F. 1983. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                 , Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse, gen. eds. 1995. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Gospel According to John, Revised Edition, by Leon Morris. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

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                  , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. John, by Donald Guthrie, 1021-1065. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

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Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 4, The Message of John: Jesus, the Son of God, 101-122. Wheaton: Crossway.

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Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 2003. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 4, John, by Colin G. Kruse. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Osborne, Grant, ed. 1993. Life Application Bible Commentary. John, by Bruce B. Barton, Philip W. Comfort, David R. Veerman, & Neil Wilson. Wheaton: Tyndale.

Tasker, R. V. G. 2000. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 4, John. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Tenney, Merrill C. 1976. John: The Gospel of Belief. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

NEXT SUNDAY: Who In the World Is Jesus? John 7:25–36