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From Luke 2:41- 45 we know that when the Jews went up to Jerusalem to the feasts they went in companies; no doubt because otherwise they would have been a target for robbers as the man that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho on his own (Luke 10:30). Christ clearly did not go up with his brethren who no doubt went as a group. |
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It should be noted that Jesus was particular about timing. Here he speaks of: "My time" (verse 6). In chapter 11:6 it says: "When therefore he heard, He is sick, he remained two days then in the place where he was" (note the then). Jesus never moved too early or too late. His brethren would have had Him go before he was ready to do so. Further, Jesus took his instructions from his Father and not from his brethren who did not believe on him (verse 5). They were virtually ordering him to go to the feast in |
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saying: "Remove hence and go into Judea" (verse 3). We should not presume to tell God what he should do; neither should they have presumed to tell his representative, Christ, what He should do. The answer to the problem I believe lies in the fact that Jesus did not intend to go up to the feast because of the danger to himself as it says in verse 1 of chapter 7: "He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him". Christ did not take silly risks and neither should we. He is our model. In Matthew 4:5-7 the devil tried to get Jesus to tempt God but He would not do that. Neither would He do that in the chapter we are considering. "He abode in Galilee" (verse 9). |
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However, He subsequently went up to the feast. No doubt this was not on a whim of his own, but as instructed to do so by his Father. The will of his Father was what governed Christ as we learn from such a passage as Matthew 26:39 " My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou [wilt]". Christ lived by "every word which goes out through God's mouth" (Matthew 4:4). His ear was wakened morning by morning to hear as the instructed (Isaiah 50:4). As the following verses show this involved suffering so far as Christ was concerned. We learn this also from John 14:31 "As the Father has commanded me, thus I do". |
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A comparable situation to what we have in John 7 is what we have in Luke 2. There we find that Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem when Mary and Joseph had left with the company that journeyed home together after the feast of the Passover. With Jesus the will of his Father was paramount. He was occupied with his Father's business (verse 49). This is I believe the reason for the apparent difficulty in John 7, just as it was the explanation for the behaviour of Jesus in Luke 2. |
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December 2002 |
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