Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, February 17, 2014 Read John 7:1-9 The occasion for Jesus to return to Jerusalem comes as the Jewish Festival of Booths is approaching. The OT Law specified that every Jewish man was to visit Jerusalem for three major festivals (Exodus 34:23) – The Festival of Passover, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Booths. The Passover happened in the spring of the year as a way for God’s people to remember God’s deliverance of them from bondage in Egypt. The Feast of Harvest occurred in the summer at the beginning of the harvest. And the Feast of Booths was in the autumn of the year to help the people remember that they lived in tents when God brought them safely through the wilderness. Both Passover and Booths are mentioned in the gospel of John – the Festival of Harvest isn’t. We will soon hear of another feast – the Feast of Dedication which took place in the winter. We’ll wait to comment about that later. At any rate, it is the coming of the Feast of Booths that prompts Jesus to return to Jerusalem. We have noticed before that John tells a story of someone making a request of Jesus only to have Jesus refuse their request and then, surprisingly, do what they had requested. That pattern happens in this story. This time it is the brothers of Jesus who make the request. We have not met Jesus’ brothers before in John’s gospel. We hear of them in the synoptic gospels but they play no role other than as supportive characters in their mother Mary’s attempt to bring Jesus home because she has come to the conclusion that he is out of his mind (Mark 3:21). Their role here is no more flattering than the role they play in Mark. They act as tempters, enticing Jesus to go to Jerusalem knowing that he is in danger there. John tells us plainly that they do not believe in Jesus. They tell Jesus to do his works (really what they are looking for is signs) more widely and to show himself more plainly if he wants to gain a following. We should remember now in John’s storyline that Jesus has lost most of his followers after the sign of the multiplication of the bread and Jesus’ interpretation of that sign through which Jesus was making the claim that he is the bread of life and that one must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to receive eternal life. That his brothers should have suggested that Jesus do more works (signs) is to have missed the point. Jesus refuses to go to the Festival – and then he promptly does go. Jesus’ reason for not going is that “his time has not yet come.” This is the same reason why he refuses to do what his mother, Mary, had suggested in Cana – “his hour had not yet come.” Jesus will not be controlled by the wishes of others. Jesus is in control! So his going to Jerusalem is by his own will – and will not result in his death because this is not the hour of his death. Perhaps it is becoming just a bit clearer why John tells these stories of someone making a request of Jesus which is denied only to have Jesus do what was requested. He is attempting to emphasize that Jesus is in control of his destiny. We will encounter this later and say more then. We may have wondered why Jesus told his mother that his “hour” had not yet come. What does this “hour” mean? In this narrative Jesus says his “time has not yet come” which means the same as the use of “hour” earlier. Jesus’ “hour” and “his time” refer to his death, resurrection, and ascension all of which will happen later at the time that Jesus specifies. John’s use of the term “hour” is a bit clearer.