John 7:1-5
After this, Jesus went around
in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were
waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near,
Jesus’ brothers
said to him, “You ought to leave
here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No
one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing
these things show yourself to the world.” For even his brothers did not believe in him.
I grew up in a family of three
sons and I am the father of four sons. I know a thing or two about sibling
rivalry! As the oldest of three boys in my family growing up I experienced that
rivalry in a completely different way than did my younger brothers. Over the
years I’ve come to
understand that, in being born first, I inherited a different family position
than my younger brothers, and that, therefore, my experience was very different
from theirs.
As the oldest child, I was bigger
and stronger than my younger brothers (at least through high school), and
therefore had the clear advantage in all childhood competitions. Where this
advantage of size and strength was no big deal to me, it drove my younger
brother to be highly competitive in that he desperately wanted to be able to
match me in everything we did.
As the older son, I also went through
everything first; school, puberty, driver’s license, graduation, all of it. From my perspective,
most of those steps involved at least some anxiety and discomfort; but to my
younger brother it seemed that I had all the privileges and advantages.
As we said earlier in the week,
the Bible seems to indicate that Jesus had at least 4 younger brothers.
Tradition suggests that the oldest of these younger brothers would have been
James, the author of the New Testament book that bears his name.
We know from the text that neither
James or the other brothers believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
For even his brothers did not
believe in him.
I have to say I can’t really blame them! I’ve tried to imagine what would
happened if I came home from college one day and announced to my younger
brothers that I had just figured out that I was God! They undoubtedly would
have either thought I’d had
some kind of psychotic episode, or they would have had some kind of sarcastic
reaction, “Yeah, sure, the oldest brother ALWAYS thinks he’d God!”
Notice the subtle but very clear
anger and resentment expressed by Jesus’ brothers. We are told that Jesus was avoiding the area
of Judea because some folks there wanted to kill him. Yet we see that Jesus’ brothers suggest that he make a trip to that very
region.
After this, Jesus went around
in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were
waiting to take his life. When the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your
disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public
figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things show yourself to the
world.”
I think Jesus’
younger brothers (technically his “half-brothers”) may
have resented him for several reasons. They may have resented him simply
because he held the position of “elder son” in the family. In that
culture this meant that he received certain privileges with regard to their
father Joseph’s
business and wealth.
They may have resented him because
he decided to leave the family business and begin a preaching ministry, which
left them to take care of the shop.
Add to that a resentment of his
growing popularity and we can understand what seems to be hostility toward him.
Like Jesus’
brothers, we can have our own reasons for
rejecting him. Some may not believe Jesus is the Son of God who died and rose
again to save us from our sins. Some may not believe they are in need of a
Savior. Or some may believe in him, but may harbor resentment toward him
because of some pain or loss in their life for which they hold him responsible.
It’s important to see that the resentment and unbelief of
his brothers did not dissuade Jesus from his obedience to the Father. He did
eventually go to Judea and to Jerusalem; his enemies did eventually put him on
the cross; he did die as the final sacrifice for the sins of the world; and he
rose again to conquer sin and death.
Is there anything keeping you from
Jesus today? Do you struggle to believe he is Savior and Lord? Do you believe
in him but carry resentment and doubt? Do you know you can confess your
unbelief, your resentment, and your pain to him? Do you know that he loves you
even in your struggles with faith?
Do you know he has forgiven you?
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