Later Jesus was going about his business in Galilee. He didn’t want to travel in Judea because the Jews there were looking for a chance to kill him. It was near the time of Tabernacles, a feast observed annually by the Jews.
His brothers said, “Why don’t you leave here and go up to the Feast so your disciples can get a good look at the works you do? No one who intends to be publicly known does everything behind the scenes. If you’re serious about what you are doing, come out in the open and show the world.” His brothers were pushing him like this because they didn’t believe in him either.
Jesus came back at them, “Don’t pressure me. This isn’t my time. It’s your time—it’s always your time; you have nothing to lose. The world has nothing against you, but it’s up in arms against me. It’s against me because I expose the evil behind its pretensions. You go ahead, go up to the Feast. Don’t wait for me. I’m not ready. It’s not the right time for me.”
He said this and stayed on in Galilee. (The Message)
For some Jews in the ancient world, if the Messiah were to come, it would certainly happen in the most celebrated month of the Jewish year (Tishri, in the Fall season).
The New Year celebration happens on the first and second of the month; the Day of Atonement on the tenth day (Yom Kippur); and leads to the joyous celebration of the fifteenth to twenty-second days in the Festival of Tabernacles (Booths or Shelters, also known as “Sukkot”).
That is the time of year in which faithful followers of God leave their homes and live in temporary shelters. It serves as a powerful reminder of their deliverance and divine preservation in the wilderness. It’s a celebration of the harvest, a time to remember the Israelites’ journey through the Sinai desert and God’s protection throughout that time.
This festival also symbolizes unity and inclusivity, and looks forward to the Messianic age when all nations will come to Jerusalem to worship God.
So, it only made sense to the people who knew Jesus, that he would want to make a big splash during the month of Tishri – a time of high celebration where everyone is together, recalling God’s gracious actions.
Christ’s own family were insistent that he take advantage of the festival’s timing and clearly show himself to the world. But Jesus wasn’t having it. Why not?
Jesus responded that it is not yet his time. By that he meant it wasn’t the right festival season. The timing of Christ would be for Passover, not Tabernacles. His role was not as the Divine Warrior who would beat up the Romans and establish an earthly rule in the vein of King David.
Instead, Christ’s purpose was to take on the role of the Suffering Servant, the dying Messiah. A joyous public spectacle during Tabernacles to announce deliverance from Roman oppression was not the reason he came to this earth.
Jesus had no intention of being pressed into something that wasn’t his understanding of God’s will.
Indeed, Christ’s time of glorification would come. But at the time of Tabernacles, when the feelings of the people were drawn to Jesus, and expectations were high for divine deliverance from Gentile rule, a capitulation to the crowd would be akin to the devil’s temptation of throwing himself from the Temple, so that everyone could see the Jewish Superman in action.
Jesus is not that sort of Messiah. Ostentatious displays of power and authority were not his path for the people’s salvation. That is the way of the world, not heaven; it’s the concrete road of the proud, not the dirt path of the humble.
Evil needed to be dealt with, once and for all – and not only for the sake of the Jews, but for all creation. And it had to have to divine effectiveness, not a worldly solution.
It still remains yet to this very day, that those with unbelief demand a strong leader and a powerful sign of authority. They want a take-charge sort of person who looks good and has style.
Such worldly-minded persons insist that the strong leader get out there and have lots of exposure. Pay attention to the optics, and engender supreme confidence in others. Engage and change the situation with all of the proven tactics of the world’s power base.
Yet those who truly believe, discern that life does not consist of grand imperial displays of opulent strength and worldly control. Rather, the heavenly virtues of wisdom, patience, and a settled hope surround them. They pay no attention to bombastic pronouncements and empty promises.
The believer is able to see Jesus for who he truly is, and not for what they want him to be.
In other words, up is down, first is last, suffering before celebration. These are not the ways of the unbelieving world; they are the practices of the faithfully devoted ones.
Even though Christ’s brothers strongly urged him to openly show himself in an ancient version of mass marketing, Jesus patently forsook it. He was not seeking to enhance his own reputation, to get his brand recognition out there and impress the crowd.
Jesus Christ will only act as his heavenly Father commands and wills him to – even if his own family want him to do different.
And that is why the world “hates” Jesus. Because he will neither operate according to, nor submit to, its prevailing cultural, political, and familial standards. Pride mocks humility. Arrogance disdains the meek and gentle. Worldly strength wants nothing to do with any sort of perceived weakness.
Yet, the world does not realize that ultimate power, control, and authority comes not through public shows of toughness, but by private practices which embrace spiritual disciplines and knowing oneself.
I myself have no stomach for the supposed follower of Christ who merely seeks to honor Jesus in order to make the Name of Jesus serve their own name’s purpose.
And I gag every time I observe the self-centered leader try and act as if they care for important things, when in reality their only concern is self. Their worldly actions and attitudes betray their true feelings and purpose.
“It is better to incur the world’s hatred, by testifying against its wickedness, than gain its good will by going down the stream with them.”
Matthew Henry
We live in a world of indecision; there is no real decisive action which champions the common good of all citizens. We stick our finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. Our insecurity as a people is profound and palpable.
We seem incapable of sound and just public decision-making, let alone making personal choices which foster and engender spiritual and emotional growth.
This world is in desperate need of good, right, and just people who will faithfully occupy places and positions of trust. For me, that means following the narrow way of Jesus, and not the broad highway of destruction paved by narcissistic leaders.
Do you and I have the courage to take a hard look at ourselves, our relationships, and most of all, Jesus? Will we seek discernment as to what is really the world, and what is truly the words and ways of Jesus? Can we gain a sense of divine timing?
Almighty and ever-living God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth: Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 