Saturday 30th September
Read John 7:6-10
“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.” (NIVUK)
It seems the divine master plan still involved attending the festival, just not publicly. The time for the final confrontation between Jesus and the world was to come six months later. That confrontation would result in precisely the death Jesus sought to avoid by going up with the pilgrims from Galilee and His family.
Some are concerned that Jesus seems to have engaged in deception here. He says He is not ‘going up’ but then, within a few days, does. The issue is resolved if we take seriously the words He says to His brothers. He will not attend according to their agenda and invitation. Those in the world do not tell the Lord what to do and when to do it! Jesus operates to God’s timing.
There is a higher integrity at work here. We do well to consider whether we operate in the same way. Are we too willing to go along with the crowd and bend to its will and way?
