10: Jesus at the Festival of the Booths — John 7:1–31


7After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. ² Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. ³ So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; ⁴ for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. 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 against it that its works are evil. ⁸ Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. ¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” ¹³ Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” ¹⁶ Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whe-ther the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. ¹⁸ Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

¹⁹ “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. ²² Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? ²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

²⁵ Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? ²⁷ Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” ²⁸ Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. ²⁹ I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” ³⁰ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?” NRSV

Get into the Word

1. Where is Jesus when this section opens? Why is he avoiding Judea? What do Jesus’ brothers suggest about his ministry? What does this tell you about their beliefs?

2. What does Jesus do about his brothers’ suggestion? Why does he not go to Jerusalem right away? What is the situation when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem? Why do you think the crowd was divided in its opinion of Jesus? How does Jesus respond to the crowd? 

3. What does Jesus talk about to make his message and purpose clear? What does he say about the Law? 

4. Why are the people confused about who Jesus is? What difference does where Jesus comes from make about who he is? How does Jesus respond to the crowd’s confusion? What is the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ statements about his origin? Why do some believe in Jesus?

Get Personal

What is your usual method of verifying what somebody tells you? How does Jesus ask us to test his teaching to determine its validity? How has God demonstrated his reliability in your life recently? 

7:1. Stay out of Judea — Galilee and Judea were separate “states” in Jesus’ time. When John was writing his Gospel Galilee was more open to Christians and the Jews were stronger in Judea.
7:2. Festival of Booths — (literally “tent”) commemorates Israel’s wandering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, and lived in tents.
7:3. Jesus’ brothers — though some scholars use “cousins” or “countrymen” or even “step-brothers” (supposedly from an earlier marriage of Joseph), it is clear from Matthew that Jesus had brothers and sisters,[Matt 13:54-58; also check out Mark 3:21, 31-32, and Acts 1:14].
7:4-5. Show yourself – the brothers are actually mocking Jesus because they don’t yet believe him.
7:6. Right time — Jesus is very aware of the the need to do things according to God’s timing.
7:12. Deceiving the crowd — the Mosaic Law mandated that false teachers be put to death: But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God, [Deut 13:5].
7:15. Never been taught — the Jews had great respect for the type of “teaching” that comes as a result of long and arduous study, and they ignored or discounted or Jesus’s remarks because he was not so trained.  Matthew records a similar reaction, [7:28-29].
7:20. Demon possessed — a fairly common label for someone acting

strangely. The Jewish leaders also used it (incorrectly) on Jesus [Mark 2:22-30].
7:21. One work — the Jews faulted Jesus for healing on the Sabbath [in 5:1-15], which supposedly violated the commandment to “do no work.” By Jesus’ time the Jews had an elaborate system of “explanations” of the Law that made the commandments more cumbersome than ever. However, Jesus points out that even Moses knew there would be dilemmas with the Law, using the example of circumcising a child (required on a specific day [Gen 17:10-12]) and the Sabbath (required to be without “work”). 
7:24. Appearances . . . right judgment — Jesus distinguishes between surface decisions and those decisions that go to the heart of the matter. Jesus made his decisions – and his declarations – based on how things or actions really are.
7:27. No one will know — the popular tradition was that the Messiah would just appear, which ignored Micah’s prophecy of Bethlehem [5:2].
7:29. I am from him — yet another of Jesus’ declarations about his divinity, which led to another failed attempt to arrest him. This is also another clear statement that Jesus is God’s representative and, according to the cultural view should be accepted as God would be accepted – the irony is the Jews did treat Jesus the same as they treated the Lord: very shabbily.