1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.
After many of his disciples left him, Jesus was very cautious about his exposure to the Jewish leaders who wanted to kill him. This wasn’t just a conspiracy theory and the irrational fears that come from that. We’ve already seen that they wanted to kill him because he had called God his Father, which was a clear claim to his own deity (John 5:18).
When we come to conspiracies, we need to be cautious. Not everything is a conspiracy. God made it clear through Isiah that we need to focus on him instead of groundless fears.
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread (Isa 8:11-13 ESV).
Falling for conspiracies happen when we are not walking with the Lord. It happens when we follow the way of people. It only causes needless fear. Instead of following the crowd, we need to focus on holiness and the fear of the Lord that comes when we understand that we are not holy.
To put it into perspective of the current environment, conspiracies are the realm of the far right and the far left. They belong to those with extreme positions. They ignore facts and claim that their “facts” are true even in the presence of evidence that proves the opposite. They will only listen to those who agree with them and fulfill Paul’s prophecy in 2 Timothy:
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim 4:3-4 NIV)
I call upon Christians who have been sucked into these conspiracies to repent of following worldly leaders who are only out to enrich and empower themselves claiming to look out for the good of the country. Remember that God is sovereign; he raises up our leaders and brings them down (Dan 2:21). Look for godly men instead of those who claim to look out for Christian ideals but don’t live them out themselves.
2 But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles 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." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
The Feast of Tabernacles or Booths was one of the three major feasts listed in the Old Testament. The other two were the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks. According to Deuteronomy 16:16, every male (presumably the adults) was commanded to come to these three feasts. Since Jesus came to fulfil the Law, then he would have been required to go as well.
The dilemma is that the Jews would be waiting to kill him. Should he go and fulfill the Law, or should he stay away to protect his life? Then comes the taunting of his brothers. (A side note for those who believe Mary remained a virgin all her life: Jesus had brothers, they were Mary’s children, not cousins, not fellow villagers from Nazareth.) The brothers were worldly and gave Jesus worldly advice. “Go to the Feast and perform miracles. You just lost a lot of disciples, so if you want to get them back or get some new ones, you should up your social media game.” Since they didn’t believe in him, they could not offer anything other than worldly advice. When he told them the Jews wanted to kill him, they thought he was crazy (Mark 3:21).
6 Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. 8 You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. 10 However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.
Jesus didn’t mince his words to his brothers even though they probably didn’t understand what he was saying. Jesus’ time is dictated by the Father. The time for his birth, death, resurrection, and his return. Jesus knew that when he went to the Feast, he would still be protected but he wasn’t going to be presumptuous. We don’t follow his example unless it suits us. We take risks that we shouldn’t because we think God will protect us. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t.
For his brothers, it didn’t matter if they went to the Feast openly because no one was trying to kill them. What is interesting is that after his resurrection, at least two of his brothers believed and became influential in the early church, James and Jude. Then they understood that the world now hated them just as it hated Jesus.
Jesus tells them that he isn’t going to the feast. The word “yet” in verse 8 is not in the earliest Greek manuscripts and several translations do not include it. I wonder if it was just missing, or someone added it to make it look like Jesus was not lying to his brothers. This is a big deal. If that little word is not what Jesus said, then it certainly sounds like Jesus was lying to them. We know that Jesus lived his life in perfect holiness and had no sin (Heb 4:15). If he had, he would have had to die for his own sin and his death would not have been able to pay for ours. But God raised him from the dead proving that his life was indeed free from sin.
If Jesus didn’t use the word “yet,” then what does this say about what we would call a “little white lie?” First of all, there is no such thing. A lie is a lie, a sin is a sin. People much wiser than I have examined this and other instances in the Bible where people have given misdirection for the safety of other. The Hebrew midwives told the Pharaoh that Hebrew women gave birth before they arrived to protect the babies (Ex 1:15-20). Rahab hid Hebrew spies and told the men sent by the King of Jericho to find them that they had already left (Josh 2:2-6). These people were rewarded for their actions. Exodus 1:21 specifically says the midwives were rewarded because they feared the Lord. R C Sproul concludes, and I agree, that when righteousness must be preserved (such as saving life), truth must be withheld.[1]
11 Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?" 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people."
There was much confusion about who Jesus was and there is still the same confusion today. The Jews only regarded Jesus as “that man.” The common people only regarded him as a good man or a deceiver. As has been apparent from the beginning of the Book of John, what we believe about Jesus is vitally important for our eternal lives. We believe he is equal with God and is indeed the Son of God. He is the Creator, the Light of the world, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins, the Messiah. He does the Father’s will, is our Judge, has life in him, gives life, is the object of prophecy, was sent from the Father, and is the Bread of Life. If you believe, you will have eternal life (John 6:47). If you don’t believe you are condemned (John 3:18). Don’t be confused, the evidence is in and believing in Jesus is necessary for eternal life as well as the only way to live a godly life in this world.
13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.
If you believe who Jesus is and say nothing because you fear what may happen to you, do you really believe? You may certainly believe some of what we’ve learned about Jesus, but your faith is insufficient for salvation. Jesus said that if you disown him before men, which is what the people were doing by refusing to say anything publicly, he will disown you before the Father (Matt 10:33). True saving faith must be willing to confess that Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:9-10).
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