Jesus Brother's Response
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My favorite teacher back in school was Mrs Turtle… Funny Name… but she tortoise well
Jenn told me to pick up six cans of Sprite at the grocery, but when I got home I realized I had picked 7-up
So for the past few chapters Jesus has been working through the revelation of who he is, and in chapter seven there is going to be a brief pause… in this chapter there is going to be discussions on what the response to all of these revelations are and today we are going to talk through what the brothers response to all of this was.
1 The setting.
1 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.
So we see here that Jesus is avoiding going to Judea… he didn’t want to be killed yet, later we will see it was not his time for that, so he is seeking a more peaceful way around. He didnt withdraw becausee he was scared, instead he withdrew because he wanted to be able to minister for a longer period of time. So going to Galilee was a safer, smaller place… and this should be a sense of peace for some of us, because sometimes we feel unused or not as good because we dont have as large of an opportunity for ministry, but God sent Jesus here and this was the place he was to do ministry and it was just as important
Here is something that is a little different in John than in the rest of the Gospels, he has just jumped six months of events. So if you really want to follow chronologically with what Jesus did you will have to read elsewhere so you can truly understand what is going on… but he has skipped all the way to the Feast of tabernacles or booths. And often times we tend to think of the Passover feast to be the biggest feast in the Jewish world, but this certainly isnt true in the Jewish world,,., this would have been the chief of them all, This feast marked the successful completion of their labor. THey were celebrating the Harvest being in the barns and they could finally relax and enjoy what was going on. In an agricultural culture this was the big one it meant something to them. So this is what is going on around them. And this feast and celebration was associated with kingship and enthronement....
3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
2. The Brothers response
Alright lets stop here, this is a source of contention for some people, because there is this whole group of people that believe in Mary’s perpetual virginity, meaning she died a virgin, meaning she had no more kids, so they take this as “brothers” and think that we are talking about his cousins or something which in reality is just a horrible idea and we see that Jesus had brothers, James the brother of Jesus who is the one who will eventually become the leader of the Jerusalem church and Jude who wrote the letter of Jude are amongst his brothers, so here we have it, Jesus’ brothers are there, and then when you look forward it seems to become a much more big of a deal.
But look at what else this verse tells us...
So that your disciples may see the works you are doing.. listen what you are talking about here is they are wanting him to show his power… this is exactly what we had talked about a few weeks ago, we talked about the prominence of miracles and what they meant and their purpose and here they are saying they want to see even more things, and if he goes he can show them what is up… And its interesting because the brothers know enough about what Jesus can do to tell him to go do more… theyve seen it
Look at verse 4 John 7:4
4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”
JESUS GO SHOW EVERYONE, if you want everyone to believe just go show them, what is wrong with you…
And his brothers just like the rest of the Jewish world had the wrong idea of messiah… remember they were waiting for this KOG KOH that meant all the stuff it means.. and so they were waiting for the Messiah to do the good stuff,,, but they didn’t understand what was going on… who he really was and what his mission was because look at the next verse
5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
And this is one of the most troubling verses in this section of the bible, because you have to understand something… his brothers did not believe in him,...
One of the things I talk about all the time when I quote James, is how amazing must Jesus be for his brothers to believe that he was the son of god… how good… as a point to prove how amazing Jesus must have really been, but the truth is before his death the brothers didn’t really believe him, but look at what we can see in Acts 1:14
14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
that his brothers really didnt come to believe in him until after the ascension and resurrection, that should be enough to do it for all of us… right we see a guy that we know is dead come back to life.... and this is exactly how we should believe today… testimonial accounts… listen what do you think the disciples told people when they were sharing about Jesus in the first few months and years after his death before the cannon was assembled…explain I saw a guy… so his brothers didnt believe in him at all before his death but we learn that James becomes a huge part of the church Galatians 2:9
9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
So I want you to catch this for a second… his brothers were following Jesus for the same reason that so many others were following him… for what he could do for them.... and listen, remember when we talked about the Feasts of Booths was associated with Kingdom and enthronement… this is what they are telling him… go take your place on the throne go up there and knock out this Roman bondage… set us free… and they kind of knew him… but they had their own agenda for him… look I love the way RC Sproul stated this...
“These were people who had been with Jesus during His earthly ministry, watching Him day after day…with him during his early ministry…watching Him day after day. In fact they were His blood brothers and they had grown up with Him. They thought they knew Him. They thought they were on his team. However, they had their own agenda for Him. They were rooting for him to go to Jerusalem to manifest His power. This tells us they were still unbelievers, outside the kingdom of God.”
Remember, there is a huge difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of this world… and Jesus tells us we can’t live in both… so there is no man in this world that will ever set us free and make the world a better place so to speak… we need him..
Does this issue with Jesus’ brothers sound familiar to the fear I tell you about the church? People that know him but have no relationship with him. And you may push back and say pastor this cant be the truth, you don’t understand they arent unbelievers… Im not an unbeliever… but understand what is happening here… they haven’t resigned themselves to the will of Jesus.. they haven’t died to themselves to follow him, they want to make him their genie and do their bidding. And this is what we do so often… we allow ourselves to buy into what has become the American Gospel and we believe that Jesus is all about us… but thats not how it works… and we aren’t called to LEAD Jesus…
And you pushback and say I’m not leading Jesus, I am just needing him to come through.... IM just trying to get him to help me and make my life better…and there is nothing wrong with prayer… but when the only thing your relationship with Jesus becomes is you needing him to change something to better yourself and you are never allowing him to speak into the life to change YOU you probably find yourself in the same boat as his brothers here… you’re not really his follower.... you are just wanting something… and we have to get to a place where we can pray not my will but yours be done.... expand
Wait… did I really say that? And of course I did… and I say it because it was me… trust me… I was a christian… but if your life doesnt change you aren’t following… thats what he does.... the gospel doesn’t JUST change your actions, it changes what you WANT to do...
So when his brothers say....
3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, 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.”
They are wanting him to receive his glory.. and they understood what that was supposed to look like at the Feast of Booths but they wanted him to fulfill it now, but what they failed to see is they are wanting him to receive this glory that he will only receive at his second coming… when they say this they are saying they want him to receive it in an earthly way…
and this should sound familiar to us as Matthew 4:9-10
9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
See what is happening here is Satan is saying Jesus, use your divine power to serve yourself here in the world… see Satan is offering him worldly things in exchange for his divine power… and its easy to see the similarities with his brothers… Hey use your divine power all the miracles you have been preforming to get people to believe in you so you can build this earthly kingdom....
And in Matthew Jesus says Matthew 4:10
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
but back to John look at what Jesus response is to his brothers here in John 7:6-9
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.
He’s saying my time has not yet come… and this should sound familiar to Jesus response to his mother at the wedding in Cana
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
And he is telling her there it is not his time yet....
And all throughout the Gospel of John, as he is referring to his time, he is talking about the time to come when he returns and in all his glory he will be seen for who he is… The time when every knee will bow… and every mouth confess… this is not a forced thing remember… we will just have no other choice once we see him for who he clearly is… and it was this moment in the feasts booths that they were wanting him to take this kingship and hes saying no… that time is coming...
The question this morning is what are you doing with Jesus… are you using him for your own agenda or are you allowing him to use you for his… are you trying to display your own kingship by using him for your own agenda… or are you helping him to support his in teh world to come… are you joining his kingdom… or are you living in the kingdoms of this world…
3. Jesus’ Reply