John 7:1-13. Hatred of Jesus
As John begins the second section of his gospel, Jesus is about to leave Galilee permanently to move his area of ministry down to Jerusalem. John has recorded several thumbnail sketches of people Jesus had met. Some of these came to believe in Jesus and others became his enemies. The same differing responses to Jesus are seen in this passage.
1 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.’ 5For 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. John 7:1-13
Let us look at these different reactions to Jesus.
1. The Crowds
They were muddled and confused.
“Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.’” John 7:12
Some were complimentary about Jesus, they looked at his character and life and recognised that he was an admirable person. This was not enough but was a beginning.
In John chapter 6 Jesus had been clear that he had come down from heaven, that he was the Son of God and that the only way to find God was through faith in him. Some senior religious figures concluded that Jesus was deceiving people. The same is happening today. Some acknowledge Jesus to be God’s Son, but the others have either openly or quietly rejected him.
2. Jesus Brothers
“Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.” John 7:3
At this stage they did not believe but later many of them did come to recognise that Jesus really is the Lord of Glory. This comment does sound rather cynical and sarcastic, they want to get rid of him and his claims,
Jesus hadn’t hidden his power or his claims as he wanted all people to recognise who he was. Yet the inference here is that Jesus is only acceptable to the gullible. The next sentence suggests that the only way truth can be substantiated is by widespread popular acclamation.
“No-one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” John 7:4
Did they not know that the authorities there wanted to kill him? If they did, this is very sinister.. Jesus was known to have several younger brothers and sisters. Early in his ministry Jesus had been teaching in Capernaum and the people were puzzled,
“‘Where did this man get this wisdom and miraculous powers?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t these his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us?’” Matthew 13:55-56
His siblings were, at first, antagonistic to his claims; on another occasion they accused him of being ‘out of his mind’ (Mark 1:21). Sometimes those brought up in the faith can refuse to believe it. It is noteworthy however that, after his resurrection, his family did come to believe. The letter of James in the New Testament was almost certainly written by the brother of Jesus who had become leader of the Council of Jerusalem in the early church. Jesus had specifically shown himself to James after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7) and he and his other brothers then joined the apostolic band.
“They (the apostles) all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Acts 1:14
3. The Jewish Authorities
It is clear that the antagonism of the authorities against Jesus was significant. Jesus -
“ . . . purposely stayed away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.” John 7:1
This criticism of the Jewish authorities was not anti-Semitism. Both Jesus and the apostles were Jews and they all loved the Jewish people. Jesus wept over Jerusalem simply because they were antagonistic to him, God’s only Son, and he knew the consequences of this rejection. This hatred of Jesus, to the extent that they wanted to do away with him, would not just come from Jewish people. Jesus goes on to explain why he was hated and why it would be safe for his disciples to travel down to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles,
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” John 7:7
It is the whole world that hates Jesus!. Yet Jesus came for people of every nation and language. At the beginning of his book John wrote,
“The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” John 1:9
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.” John 1:10
Jesus is not just the Messiah of the Jews but the creator and Lord of the whole universe. The rejection by the Jewish authorities is simply an illustration of the fact that much of the whole world has rejected Jesus.
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . .” John 1:11-12
There are several emphases in the Bible that thios passage iollustrates.
a. The world hates Jesus!
There is a general feeling that people like what Jesus stands for. This is usually because they think he came to talk about honesty, kindness and integrity. But it does not take long to realise, when reading through the gospels, that Jesus’ primary aim was not to heal people or do good social actions but to introduce himself as the only Son of God who would die on behalf of many, so that they can become acceptable to God. He taught that all people are rebels against God and his Son and we do hate being criticised.
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” John 7:7
This is the Bible’s starting point.
“When they sin against you, for there is no-one who does not sin – and you become angry with them.” 1 Kings 8:46
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
“But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” Galatians 3:22
“There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .” Romans 3:23
A short while ago I attended a local church funeral of a man who had shown a total disdain for the Christian gospel throughout his life. The vicar acknowledged that the last time he had been in his local church was when he had been married there fifty years before. Yet in his eulogy the vicar explained what he had contributed to the golf club and other local groups and concluded by saying that he was now in the hands of a loving God who would surely welcome him into his presence! What a tragedy it is when the leaders of God’s church teach the opposite to that of Jesus and his apostles. The apostles insisted that there is no salvation without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Many church services in Britain seem to assume that all attending are at least sympathetic towards God and therefore on his side. This is a great mistake. We must not assume that those attending church have committed themselves to the Lord Jesus. A refusal to accept Jesus is the mark of his enemies.
In Shakespeare’s play, ‘Richard II’,
“Henry Bolingbroke kneels to King Richard and kisses his hand . . .”
However, in reality, Bolingbroke was not really the king’s servant.
The evidence that people belong to Christ is that they have his Spirit and this will be apparent because the following features are developing in them.
1. Love for Jesus.
2. Love for God’s word.
3. Love for Christ’s people.
4. Longing for righteousness.
5. Longing to pray.
6. Longing to evangelise.
7. Longing for heaven.
8. Perseverance in developing the relationship with Christ.
9. Joy and Peace in all circumstances because Christ is is control.
When people understand what Jesus is saying about himself and see him on that cross and yet reject his rule, their problem is not apathy but antagonism. They do not want him to be their Lord. In some parts of the world, especially Islamic countries, if a person becomes a Christian, life can be made very difficult indeed and some are killed. I am at present reading an account of the church in Iran. The first Persian born bishop of Iran was Hassan Dehqani-Tafti. His wife was a second cousin of my wife. When the Ayatolla and the radical muslims took over the country his son was killed and some assassins broke into his bedroom and shot at him four times as he lay in bed. Four bullet holes were found in his pillow around the area where his head was resting. People hated the person the bishop represented.
A Pakistani woman, Gulshan Esther, was crippled from infancy because of polio and for many years sought healing through Islam, but all in vain. Following her father’s death, she desperately called out to God, beginning truly to “talk to Him, not as a Muslim does, using set prayers, approaching Him across a great gulf. Driven by a vast emptiness inside I prayed as if talking to One who knew my circumstances and my need.” Her prayer led to a number of remarkable encounters. She heard a low voice saying he was Jesus son of Mary, and that she should read about him in the Qur’an. She did so, and “began to believe that what was written about Jesus was true — that he did miracles, was alive — and that he could heal [her].” She felt more and more drawn to Jesus and prayed to him repeatedly.
Very early one morning, after desperately asking Jesus to heal her or tell her if he could not, a light filled the darkened room and she became aware of the presence of twelve figures, led by another, brighter and larger than the rest. She relates the encounter as follows:
“Oh God,” I cried, and the perspiration broke out on my forehead. I bowed my head and I prayed.
“Oh God, who are these people, and how have they come here when all the windows and doors are shut?”
Suddenly a voice said, “Get up. This is the path you have been seeking. I am Jesus, Son of Mary, to whom you have been praying, and now I am standing in front of you. You get up and come to me.”
I started to weep. “Oh Jesus, I’m crippled. I can’t get up.”
He said, “Stand up and come to me. I am Jesus.”
When I hesitated he said it a second time. Then as I still doubted he said for the third time, “Stand up.”
‘And I, Gulshan Fatima, who had been crippled on my bed for nineteen years, felt new strength flowing into my wasted limbs. I put my foot on the ground and stood up. Then I ran a few paces and fell at the feet of the vision. I was bathing in the purest light and it was burning as bright as the sun and moon together. The light shone into my heart and into my mind and many things became clear to me at that moment.’
What seems very clear is she was miraculously healed and transformed. After the vision she began walking up and down in her room, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, which she had received shortly before in her illumination encounter.
The sound of her movement alarmed her aunt, who assumed someone had entered her room, as Esther couldn’t walk. Opening the door, the aunt had to come to terms with the reality of her healing. Although she and the other relatives were delighted with Esther’s physical transformation, they did not appreciate the credit she gave Jesus. Her relationship with her family deteriorated when she announced that she had become a Christian. At one point her family took her to the basement of their large house and one of its members brought out a shotgun which was put to her head. She belonged to one of the twenty-one richest families in Pakistan.
After leaving home permanently, she engaged in a ministry of testifying “to the power of God to reach people who are behind the veil of Islam.”
Such blatant hostility to Jesus may be seen in Islamic countries but it still exists under the surface in western societies, even though it may be more sophisticated and polished.
In his day, Jesus saw through the supposed arguments people gave for their unbelief. He knew the real reason for their antagonism,
“. . . it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” John 7:7
We all instinctively know that when we have been disobedient or sinful we cannot stand in God’s presence and so we rationalise our behaviour and deny the God who put those instincts in us.
It is noticeable that when someone mentions Jesus in a conversation there is an immediate opposition; people get worried. At the beginning of his gospel John wrote about Jesus,
“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:5
b. God’s love
It is a wonderful truth that God loves all people but this must only be taught in context of our hatred for him. The most famous verse in the Bible says,
“Fo God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
When John talks about ‘the world’ he uses the word to describe a worldly people who are in opposition to God. This makes this verse so astounding; God loves even those who are opposed to him, who hate him. That is the starting point. God is a holy, sinless God and I fall far short of his standards of thinking and behaviour. When a person first hears this they will be annoyed.
‘How rude and unloving to say that I’m not good enough for God’
‘I’m a popular member of our society. I am religious and do my best to help others.’
But it gradually dawns that the Bible is telling the truth. I am instinctively in rebellion against God and his Son. I am worldly. It is in this context that the good news comes alive. God loves the unlovely, God loves the world, God loves even those who want to kill him. This is the Christian message. Jesus has entered this antagonistic world and demonstrated his overriding love for sinners by dying to save them.
3. Our role
Some evangelists suggest that all we need to do is to pray asking to be forgiven and we are saved. But Jesus taught that it was not that easy for people to be saved. Firstly he had to pay a great price; he had to enter this world, face rejection and finally go through a horrific tortured death – that was not easy. But neither is our role. When Jesus began his teaching ministry he said,
“The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” Mark 1:15
Repentance, a determination to live a new life with Jesus Christ in control, is far from easy but is essential. When Peter gave his first sermon at Pentecost, his listeners were very concerned to hear that Jesus was their Messiah whom God had raised from death and asked,
“What shall we do?” Acts 2:37
Peter replied,
“Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:38
To live for Christ inwardly, to repent, is hard. It is also far from easy to be baptised, to make that public declaration of a new allegiance. This was particularly hard for the three thousand who committed their lives to Christ that day as representatives of those who had condemned Jesus to death seven weeks earlier were almost certainly looking on!
Although it is true that Jesus has won our salvation for us, our role is not insignificant. Peter concludes his sermon with the words,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Acts 2:40
The implications of accepting who the Lord Jesus is and what he has done for us is life-changing; becoming a Christian is not an easy option. We must start to swim against the tides of our society that are, at root, antagonistic to a holy God. Teenagers find it so hard to be different from their peer group but they are not alone. Senior professional people are just as frightened to stand out against their peers as teenagers. The world really does hate God and the world really hates real Christianity. It doesn’t hate Christian values and Christian activities where the young and old are cared for, schools and hospitals established, but real Christianity, that puts Jesus at the centre when he demands our lives, our homes, our lips, and our priorities, the world does hate.
Summary - Two worlds in opposition
As more and more people living in Jerusalem in those early months after Pentecost became interested in Christian gospel, the Jewish authorities became very worried. They arrested Peter and John but they insisted that they must teach people about Jesus. They bravely gave their reason to the Sanhedrin, the body that had arranged for Jesus to be crucified,
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
After a private discussion the Sanhedrin came to a conclusion on the best way to react,
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:18
But Peter and John immediately replied,
“Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19
Peter and John were clearly convinced about Jesus! After threatening the two further they let them go. They immediately went back to meet up with the local Christians who were reminded of what God had said about antagonism against him in Psalm 2.
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” Acts 4:25-26
Psalm 2 is well worth studying because it teaches precisely what Jesus was saying. Jesus is God’s Son, his King or Messiah who is opposed. The world, and each of us, are reminded,
“Therefore you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flair up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 2:10-12
The Bible makes it lear that we are all in one camp or the other. We are either wheat or tares, sheep or goats, in the light or in the dark, saved or unsaved. There are no other intermediate groups. Jesus has done his part. Our role is to change direction (repent) and then go public (starting by being baptised) in our commitment to serving Christ.
BVP
