He’s A Good Man John 7:1-13
Let’s just start right in and go through this piece by piece. Verse 1, “After this, Jesus went around Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.”
This was a few months before his ultimate arrest and the Pharisees were already looking for a way to kill him. At this point they weren’t interested in listening to him. They weren’t trying to see things his way, or in a different light.
People can treat us this same way. We try to share Jesus and they don’t want to even try to listen. It is important to try to share Christ’s salvation, but it is also important to know when to stop beating a dead horse. Matthew 10:14, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Pray for the person, yes, but don’t lose your peace because they don’t want to accept the gospel, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to intervene.
Verse 2-3, “But when the Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea so that your disciples there may see the works that you do.”
Christians call each other brother or sister because we are in the family of Christ through faith in his sacrifice, but Jesus hasn’t gone to the cross yet so that’s not what this means. This passage refers to Jesus’ earth siblings, the other children of Joseph and Mary.
Now Jesus recently fed approximately several thousand with a few fish and loaves of bread. This festival will have many more people there to see the wonders of Jesus, many more to witness his miracles. And at first, it seems like Jesus’ brothers were encouraging him to go to reach all these people, but in the next few verses we will see this isn’t the case. Verse 4, “No one who wants to become a public figure act in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” Jesus’ brothers aren’t encouraging him, they’re mocking him. They see Jesus as their older brother who’s a little off center. They’re thinking, you want to go all over the country making a fool of yourself, go ahead. Go to Judea and really do it up big.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? I have. Oh, you believe in God, you’re a fool. You want to talk of Jesus, go on then, go over to that crowd on the corner and preach. People have said these things to me for the same reason Jesus’ brothers are saying to him; verse 5, “For even his own brothers did not believe him.” 1 Corinthians 1:13, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”
Something I find interesting here is, these are Jesus’ brothers. Don’t you think Mary and Joseph told them about Jesus’ birth, about how the angel came to them before Jesus was born?
Luke chapter 2 describes Jesus’ birth and the visit of the shepherds. Verse 19,” But Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” It doesn’t say Mary brought the news of Jesus to the world. It was God’s plan to have Jesus spread the word. God put it in Mary’s heart to keep quiet because for the first thirty years of his life, it wasn’t his time. In our lives, especially if you come to faith as an adult, you will always have family and friends that don’t understand, that don’t believe you really have come to faith. And like with Jesus’ brothers, you may find they mock you for your belief.
Verse 16, “Therefore, Jesus told them, ‘My time is not yet here; for you, any time will do.’” What does he mean by this? For him it’s not the right time to be arrested and crucified, God’s plan hasn’t quite reached its end yet. But for you, any time will do. For all humanity, when one turns to God, it is always the right time. Whenever you make the decision and turn to God, he is there to receive you. Nothing is more important to God than your salvation.
So Jesus stays behind when his brothers go off to the festival. But then in verse 10 it says, “However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.” Why? Why go in secret, he was going anyway, why not travel with his brothers? It shows us his brothers were wrong. Jesus is doing God’s work; he’s not just trying to show off and bring praise on himself. It also shows us that as we do God’s work, do it humbly. We’re not to do God’s work in a way that people look at us and say, “Look at him, look at all the good work he’s doing.” “Look at her, she’s great.” The work we do for God, is for God’s praise, not our own.
Jesus goes to the festival, and we get to see what everyone there is thinking, verses 11-12, “…the Jewish leaders were watching and asking, ‘Where is Jesus?’ Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him.”
Everyone from the highest to the lowest was expecting Jesus to make an appearance. Verse 12, “Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.’”
These people have heard Jesus, or at least have heard of Jesus, and they seem to fall into one of two camps, Jesus is a good man, Jesus is a liar. We need to think about this. The reality is, neither of these groups knew Jesus very well because neither is true.
Let’s look at Jesus being a liar first. Numbers 23:19, “God is not human that he should lie…” And John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” As God, Jesus cannot lie. Everything he says is the absolute truth. As to Jesus the good man; as God, Jesus is so much more than a good man. These people stand in the presence of God and they don’t know it.
Many in the world think faith in Christ is silly, that we’re deceiving ourselves. And many others may believe but they look at Jesus as a good buddy, a pal. They don’t see him as God. To them he’s a friend we can turn to, but not God who we must listen to and serve.
The first part of John, chapter 7, gives us hope. It gives us this truth; whenever one turns to God and gives their life to Christ, that is the right time. Sunday at service, 2am Tuesday, it doesn’t matter. Nothing is more important to God than your salvation.
But we’re also given a warning. God wants us to know that as Christ’s followers, it is entirely possible for family and friends to question and mock us for our faith.
And I think we’re also told that while Jesus is someone we can go to with our trouble, he is much, much more than our buddy. Jesus is God. And we should follow his commandments.
Christ’s peace and love be with you all,
Amen