John 7.1-24 Jesus Incognito

  • Sam Ford
  • Dec 2, 2007
  • Series: Gospel According to John

John 7.1-24: Jesus Incognito

December 3, 2007

Sam Ford

 

Jesus Runs from the crowds, then the crowds run

In chapter 6, Jesus is ministering around the Sea of Galilee.  It begins with him feeding five thousand with a young boy's lunch.  The people were so appreciative of him, the declared, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world. He somehow perceives they are about to make him king.  I am not sure how much power a King has who is put into place by people controlled by ROME.  They see in Jesus, OPPORTUNITY, not for healing, but political victory.  They want, a king to throw off the power of the Romans (in fact, historically the people of Capernaum took an active role against the Romans in war). 

 

We want a King, a Savior, a God in our image

Although man is made in the image of God, we like to cast God in the image of man.  These people are no different for many of us in that they want to CHOOSE when God will be their leader and when he won't.  Like us, they want a God that they DEFINE, one that they CONTROL, one that they EMPOWER, one that will give them what they want, when they want.  If they don't, like a King, we dispose our God and replace Him with a new one.   When we do that with God it's called idolatry.  It's much "easier" to serve a god you make yourself-and we have a lot of them as Paul writes in 1Corintihians 8.  

 

God doesn't do what we think he should do...He's God.

So, Jesus walks away from what might seem from man's perspective, like an amazing opportunity to gain power, prestige, wealth, honor, etc. He tells his disciples to get in the boat and he takes off, only to walk across the water in the middle of the morning to meet them.  The crowd is persistent, however, and they follow him to the other side.  There, he gives them some very hard truthful words that drive his disciples away.

 

#1 TRUST GOD BECAUSE HE'S NOT A MAN

These are things I love about Jesus.  When he does the things that aren't what you expect, that just don't seem to be socially appropriate, that are often times the opposite of what we might do based on the circumstances.  I think what we fail to understand is that God

            Numbers 3.19

19           God is not man, that he should lie,

                    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

          Has he said, and will he not do it?

                    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

 

Isaiah 55.89

8      For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

          neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9              For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

          so are my ways higher than your ways

          and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

God works in ways that often only make sense to him.  Sometimes that means what WE THINK is the best way is not the best way, and what we think is NOT the best way, IS.  Our only hope is to depend on God. 

 

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.

 

The last time he was in Jerusalem...[MAP]

Jesus leaves Capernaum, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee on the highway from the Mediterranean Coast to Damascus. He goes West and travels around the region of Galilee.  He would not go South and hang out in Judea because the last time he was there, he caused a raucous on the Sabbath. 

 

In chapter 5, Jesus had healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.  He told him to pick up his bed and walk to which the Jews said was wrong because carrying his bed was in fact work, a sin worthy of stoning.  When Jesus explains that he works on God's authority and, in fact, claims to be equal with God calling him "My Father,"  the Jews desire to kill him (John 5.18...were seeking more to kill him).  To get away from this, he went to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee...kind of like going from southern California to New York. 

 

From Capernaum back to Jerusalem and the Feast of Tabernacles

The Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, takes place in October, while Passover is in March or April, thus there were six months left before this time was to come.  During this time the inhabitants of Jerusalem built booths out of tree limbs and boughs which they thatched over, and families actually moved out of their houses and lived in them.  This was to remind them that for forty years they wandered as pilgrims in the wilderness and lived in tents.  Jesus knew that he would not be offered at the Feast of Tabernacles, but at the Feast of Passover.

#2 DO NOT TRUST MEN'S ADVICE, even if it's all you have  

3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here (WESTERN GALILEE) and go (SOUTH) to Judea (JERUSALEM), that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."

 

Being a Brother to Jesus

 The Bible records that Jesus has four different brothers, James, Jude, Joses, and Simon (also had sisters but names are not given Mark 6.3).  It must have been hard to be the younger brother of Jesus.  He's perfectly sinless, perfectly respectfully, always getting good grades, has all kinds of friends, the best carpenter, etc. These are guys who have lived with all the controversy surrounding his birth, his miracles, his claims, they probably have a bit of an axe to grind. 

 

Where do we turn to first?

There is a very simple question we should all ask ourselves. When we've got a problem, something solve, whether it be needing a new job, mending a relationships, or just making a decision, WHERE DO WE TURN FIRST?  What do we depend on by default?  If you're like me, perhaps you have a tendency to exhaust ALL of the WORLD'S ADVICE then turn to God if that doesn't work.  We turn to books, tapes, seminars, friends, and family members for advice. 

 

Rarely, it seems, do the majority of us turn to God.  We sit and ask, "what is God's will here," and never crack the book that is His revealed Will.  Sometimes we pray, then when it isn't answered in 30 minutes or less, we give up.  Do we depend on God...even for the small things?

Jesus Brothers give some good worldly advice...

Although THEY DON'T BELIEVE HIM, they give him some ministry advice-good business suggestions full of world's wisdom.  Again, a lot of the wisdom of the world makes sense, and even appears like the RIGHT decision.  But even the decisions that "feel" right, do we ever ask God's opinion?  Do we consider what he thinks is right? 

 

V. 3 Go to Judea - bigger is better You're spending your time in the sticks of Galilee.  You need to get into the BIG CITY, the heart of the country, that's where the real growth will happen.  Why would you spend your time in Everett, or Marysville, go to Seattle!  What if God said to.  Why have church in a school when you can go buy a building?  What if God hasn't told us to yet?   Too often we confuse BIGGER with BETTER.  The opposite isn't necessarily true either...SMALLLER IS BETTER.  What does God want us to be?

 

V. 3 That your Disciples might See the works

Jesus had left a bunch of disciples right after he and his disciples had begun baptizing.  People were leaving John the Baptist and the Pharisees were getting concerned.  His brothers see that HE JUST LOST HALF HIS CHURCH, and they tell him, why don't you go back to where you were popular?  Things look like their getting difficult, you should probably change or revert. (They got difficult because of the truth).  It is very easy to gravitate towards the applause, to hang out with people who are just like you, who you know will appreciate who you are because they already have.  As we make decisions as a church, we cannot make decisions as a church, or as individuals, based on WHAT IS EASIEST or POPULAR.  Jesus is not interested in being popular, that's easy, he wants to be right and do God's Will.   

 

V. 4 No one works in Secret

His brothers tell him that he's working for a really small audience; in fact, you pretty much working without hope of growth because you're not visible to the masses.  The real evaluator of someone is not what they do publicly, but what they do privately.  But his brothers say, IF YOU WANT SUCCESS, you don't waste your time with the small stuff.  No one who WANTS to be known openly works behind closed doors.  Jesus does not care if people SEE HIM doing God's work or not, what's important is that he's doing God's work. 

 

Matthew 6.16-18

16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 

V. 4 If you do these things, show yourself to the WORLD 

At the core of this final bit of advice is validation of Jesus identity from the world.  It is as if their ultimate goal is the world's acceptance and approval.  Again, Jesus is interested in the approval of ONE.   

 

 

5 For not even his brothers believed in him.

Knowing that they don't believe reveals that their "advice" is actually some form of mockery.  They've spent 30 years with Jesus.  My guess is that they probably know that Jesus is not going to take their advice because HE HAS NEVER DONE IT the way people expected him to.  He does it the way that God tells him to. 

 

Rejected by His family for doing God's Will

It had to be hard to be the only one in his family following God's Word.  Everyone wants to be loved by their family, but Jesus said some very strong words about what happens when spiritual truth comes into part of a family and not the other.

 

Luke 12.49-53

49  "I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

 

When the family turns against you though, that is when it's most difficult to follow the truth.  Again, we see Jesus demonstrating that God's truth is more important even than family.  We cannot compromise the truth, for the ones we love. 

 

#3 TRUST GOD'S TIMING...YOU'LL BE HATED NO MATTER "WHEN"

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 about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

 

My TIME has not yet come

  • EVERY GOOD OPPORTUNITY IS NOT NECESSARILY AN OPEN DOOR
  • EVERY CHALLENGE ISN'T NECESSARILY A CLOSED DOOR.
  • HOW TO YOU DISCERN?

 

YOU can go up anytime because you're just like them.

"The World cannot hate you-because you are living according to the way it thinks; you are not raising any question; you are not challenging anything.

 

The World Hates me...because I testify about it.

Timing has nothing to do with being liked or not.  The world hates me because I expose the true hearts of men; I call evil what it is without "redescribing" it; I speak the truth that causes people to wince and they don't like that.  Our world has a wonderful tendency of changing EVIL to make it sound LESS EVIL.  Specifically, Jesus speaks out against two things: (1) SIN of the World   (2) Hypocrisy of the religious.  The ultimate result of speaking out against either is suffering, even death. 

 

The world will TOLERATE your opinions if you'll just not talk about SIN

The world does not hate Jesus because he claims to be the only way to God, or the messiah, or that he proclaims great truths about God.  The world hates Jesus because he calls them to live differently.  You will not be hated because you believe something different.  You will be hated if what you believe expects anyone to change their behavior.  When you, we, they don't like the truth, they will exchange their the "God" they followed for a new one that agrees with them. 

 

1Kings 22.8

7 But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?" 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say so."

 

#4 DON'T TRUST A MAN BECAUSE HE HAS "AN" ANSWER

10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, "Where is he?" 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, "He is a good man," others said, "No, he is leading the people astray." 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

 

Jesus Incognito:  goes up in Private

Jesus goes up in private after the stir has settled. He did not want to attract notice for fear that they will either make him King or kill him too soon.  He knew it would not take place for another 6 months on Passover. 

 

Muttering about Jesus: the crowd is divided

Take any crowd of people today and you will get varied answers to the question of "Who is Jesus?"  Some will say he is a good man.  Others will say he is a rebel.  You'll notice that both opinions are most likely based on innuendo, anectdote, not on Scripture.

 

Silence about Jesus:  No one is speaking out loud in FAVOR of him.

When church leadership begins to be feared there is a problem.  Jesus does not instill fear.  He brings conviction and compassion.  Religion can only bring PRIDE or FEAR. 

 

14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" 16 So Jesus answered them,  "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

 

Jesus goes up private, then becomes known publicly for preaching the WORD

The mark of any church must be HOW THEY TEACH THE WORD. People go from church to church looking for their favorite programs, the nicest buildings, even the prettiest people and the FAIL to look for what is most important.  Do they preach the WORD?  Do they preach it with authority?  Do they preach Jesus as the center of all things?  How do you know if they are preaching the Word....

2Timothy 3.16

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching (learning), for reproof (criticism), for correction (align with God), and for training (to go out) in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

 

Determining a TRUE teacher and a FALSE one:

  1. A true teacher of God aims to do God's will
  2. A teacher of God is does not seek for self
  3. A teacher of God seeks for God's glory

 

A True Teacher of God is deeply aware of God's greatness and his unworthiness

All in all, teachers, preachers, men and women think much more of t

  • I am least of all the saints (Eph. 3.8)
  • I am not worthy to be called an Apostle (1Cor 15.9)
  • I am chief of all sinners (1Tim 1.15)
  • I will boast in my weaknesses (2Cor 12.9)

 

2Cor 3.4

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

#5 TRUST GOD'S JUDGEMENT

19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" 20 The crowd answered,  "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"

 

21 Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

 

These guys are not judging rightly.

Jesus recounts the reason why these Jews are so upset, the fact that he healed a man on the Sabbath.  You break the law whenever you circumcise a child/mutilate the skin.  How much better is it to heal than to mutilate on the Sabbath

 

Appearances are the judgments of earth

To judge by appearances is to judge according to man, what is right, what is wrong, who I am, what I should do, where I should go, when I should go....etc.

 

 

Proverbs 3.5

         Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

                    and do not lean on your own understanding.

 

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