So far, in the first 6 chapters of the Gospel of John, the author has concentrated on the revealing of Jesus—revealing Him as God, the Son of God, the One who came down out of heaven, and the Bread of Life. Chapter 7 is a brief pause in the revelation of who Jesus is. This chapter shows the reactions of various groups to the claims of Jesus.
The first reaction, that we see tonight, comes from Jesus’ half-brothers. Tonight’s passage teaches US how to deal with mockery, ridicule, sarcasm, and unbelief. We get three facts from Jesus tonight how to deal with someone who makes fun of us being a Christian. Let’s get into the passage.
READ vv. 1-2. Jesus was forced to leave Judea and retreat to Galilee. Why? Because the religionists throughout Judea and Jerusalem wanted to kill Him. The word “waiting” in v. 1 is a continuous action verb in the Greek writings which means they kept on seeking to kill Him.
Just how long Jesus was away from Judea is not known for sure. Ideas range from 6 months to 1 ½ years. On Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem, (Jn. 6:4) we found Jesus attending the Passover. In Chapter 7 He is seen attending the Feast of Tabernacles. Now there are two lessons we can learn so far.
1. Jesus withdrew from the conflict and danger and threat on His life so that He might continue to minister. He didn’t withdraw from the ministry. I have seen, even in this church, someone will try a new ministry and they get so much rebuttal about it that they say, “That’s it, I will never do that again.” Some churches do that to the pastors. They try to do what God calls them to do, but if it’s different than the frozen chosen are used to, then they give the pastor such a hard time that he has to walk on eggshells to please them. Thus, God’s work doesn’t get done. One pastor in a church not too far from here got so much flack from the deacons that he literally quit the ministry. He went back to teaching in a college. I say, “Whoa unto those who hindered the work of God.”
But Jesus didn’t withdraw from the ministry. He just left Judea for His life. He continued what God wanted Him to do in Galilee. And that brings us to our second lesson.
2. Galilee was not as prominent as Judea. It was an obscure place, considered to be insignificant and unimportant. God chose for His Son to minister there. The lesson for us is that we should never feel embarrassed or less important to be placed in an obscure ministry by the Lord. Minister wherever God places you and do whatever God calls you to do. If a group causes conflict about it, then move to a place where you are accepted, but never quit. Let God deal with those who hindered the work. Jesus didn’t stop. To Him to live was to minister.
READ vv. 3-5. Jesus had 4 half-brothers; James, Joses, Simon, and Judas. He also had some half-sisters who were not named. (Matt. 13:55-56) Their attitude toward Jesus was one of extreme concern and embarrassment. His claim to be the Son of God embarrassed them and led them to think He was beside Himself, or insane.
Back in Mark 3, the rumor of madness caused so much pressure from neighbors and friends that they actually traveled a great distance to find Him and bring Him home.
Of course, Jesus didn’t heed to His family urging Him to stop making these claims. He had to proclaim the truth. He was the Son of God, the very Bread of Life, the only One who could fill and satisfy men, giving them abundant and eternal life.
This had to be a heavy load of embarrassment on the family. So the brothers compensated for their embarrassment by mocking Jesus. Their mockery was that they challenged Him to go up to Jerusalem to the Feast and do His marvelous miracles there. They suggested that He was failing to help and to strengthen the disciples He left there when He withdrew and that if He really wanted to be acclaimed the Messiah, He had to prove Himself in the center of the nation, Jerusalem itself.
The brothers knew the rumors about the leaders seeking to kill Jesus. It wasn’t like they really wanted Jesus to go and jeopardize His life, nor did they think He would. The whole scene was one of mockery and unbelief. They were tolerating Him through sarcasm by teasing Him. They treated Jesus with disrespect and unfortunately this teasing was open for all to see. Note three things.
1. Jesus had to be hurt and cut to the core by His family’s mockery. He had to be deeply hurt by their rejection.
2. Jesus’ suffering on earth included the rejection of His earthly family. It is through His suffering that He is able to help us through any and all trials.
3. Again, this mockery by his brothers was a continuing attitude. To some degree it is understandable in light of Jesus’ claims, His rejection by His hometown, Nazareth—His neighbors and the leaders of the nation, both religious and civil.
READ vv. 7-9. And it is here that we see Jesus’ reply to mockery, ridicule, sarcasm, and unbelief. It was actually threefold.
1. Jesus said it wasn’t time, (the day), for His acclaim, not the time for the world to accept and acknowledge His claims and works, not yet. The day of the Lord’s acclaim had not yet come. It wasn’t time for the world to proclaim Him the Savior, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. It wasn’t yet the day when the world would bow and acknowledge Him as Messiah.
The day was coming. There was an appointed time, a destined time but it was not yet. Do you see Jesus turning the mockery into a teaching situation? He used the very point of mockery against His claims and works and made the claim again. There would be a time, a day, when He would be acclaimed, but not yet.
Then Jesus says that the time for man’s acclaim is now. “Your time—man’s time, the world’s time—is now.” And it still is today. The world’s time is now—time for man wanting to be accepted and acclaim, for man to be received and recognized, for man to be honored. Jesus, in a since, was saying, “You are getting your recognition now in front of man, mine will come later.
2. Jesus continues by saying that it is time for the world’s works to be proclaimed evil. He basically said, “It is time for the world’s reaction against me, not time for its acceptance.” He was saying…
• It is time to point out the sin f the world not to receive its claim.
• It is time to point out the false religion of the world not to proclaim its hypocritical goodness.
• It is time to point out the depravity of the world not to camouflage the truth.
• It is time to point out the corruption with the world not to paint a rosy picture.
• It is time to point out the need of the world not to praise it.
• It is time to point out the destiny of the world not to hide its fate.
And it’s because Jesus had proclaimed all this that the world hated Him. It was time for the world’s reaction against Him, not time for its acceptance.
In v. 7 He’s saying, “It’s time for man’s acceptance, time for the men of the world to accept each other.” His brothers were part of the world, and the world doesn’t hate its own. The world doesn’t reject and hate but it receives those who love it, serve it, participate in it, approve of its behavior, and go along with it.
So the world receives those who look at Christ and mock, ridicule, criticize, reject, and treat Jesus sarcastically. The world doesn’t hate, but welcomes opposition to Jesus Christ.
Isn’t it time today when the works of the world must be proclaimed evil? The truth must be preached and proclaimed by the ministers of God. The world cannot be saved unless the evil of the world is acknowledged and corrected. It is our job as Christians to proclaim the truth, but it must be proclaimed as Jesus proclaimed it; in love, appealing to the desperate needs of man.
3. Jesus’ third reaction to mockery and unbelief was that it is not time for His full revelation. His predestined time to die for the world was not to be, not yet. It will come, but in God’s time. If Jesus had gone to Jerusalem as his brothers suggested, He probably would have been killed right then.
But when that time came His claims and works would be validated and proven beyond question. Many would proclaim Him to be both Lord and Savior. Remember the Roman guard who said at the cross, “Truly this was the Son of God?”
And folks, our answer, as Christians, to mockery and unbelief is the same as the answer proclaimed by Jesus. When we are mocked by the unbelievers we say:
a. This is not the time for Jesus’ acclaim, but the time for man’s acclaim. Right now they think they are above God and don’t need Him. But the day will come.
b. This is the day to proclaim the world’s work as evil.
c. It’s not time for His full revelation just yet. It’s not time for the climax of human history. But the day will come “when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
And with all that said and done, v. 9 says Jesus stayed in Galilee.
