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§18 Jesus and His Brothers (John 7:1–13)

For the third time (cf. 5:1; 6:1) a narrative begins vaguely with the words after this. The remark that Jesus went around in Galilee (v. 1) is probably intended as a summary or a general characterization of his ministry, acknowledging the truth of the synoptic witness that Galilee was indeed the location of most of Jesus’ teaching and healing activities. The narrator probably assumes that Jesus lived in Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples (2:12; cf. 6:59), using that town as the base for his Galilean travels.

Yet, ironically, Jesus is never in Galilee again from verse 10 of this chapter until after his resurrection (chap. 21). John’s Gospel is less interested in where Jesus traveled and lived most of his life than in his visits to Jerusalem. These visits are always occasioned by one of the Jewish festivals (cf. 2:13; 5:1), but now the question arises of whether Jesus will go to Jerusalem or not. The question is raised first in Galilee (vv. 2–10: Will he go to the Feast of Tabernacles?) and then in Jerusalem itself (vv. 11–13: Will he come to the Feast?).

The uncertainty exists because Jesus is wanted by the Jews (v. 1; cf. 5:18). Despite the danger, his brothers urge him to go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles you do (v. 3). It is unclear what they have in mind. Does their proposal assume the existence of a definite group of Jerusalem disciples with whom Jesus has been out of touch for a while? Are they urging him to take steps to regain the followers who had recently (6:66) turned away from him? Against both of these possibilities is the fact that Jesus’ brothers seem to speak of your disciples (v. 3) and the world (v. 4) almost interchangeably. They are asking of Jesus nothing less than a public display of his miracles. It is likely that they are using the term disciples to refer generally to any in Jerusalem who might see his miracles and come to faith. Jesus’ audience is indeed the whole world, for he teaches “in the synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together” (18:20). Specifically, his brothers are calling him to a temple ministry. He has taught already in the synagogue at Capernaum (6:59), and now it is time to reveal himself publicly at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.

What his brothers urge is what Jesus in fact will do in chapters 7 and 8. Yet the narrator is careful to point out that their counsel is a counsel of unbelief. They do not believe in him, nor are they heard from again in this Gospel. Their place is taken by his true “brothers,” the disciples (20:17–18), one of whom is pronounced the son of Jesus’ mother (19:26–27). Jesus’ natural brothers are described in precisely the opposite manner from the believing disciples, as friends of the world (v. 7; contrast 15:19). Because their times are not in God’s hands but in their own, it makes no difference whether they go to the festival or stay home (v. 6). But for Jesus the time must be right because his life and his plans are at God’s direction.

The exchange between Jesus and his brothers recalls his conversation with his mother in chapter 2. In both cases a request, implicit or explicit, from within Jesus’ family is met with an initial refusal (2:4; 7:6–9), after which Jesus proceeds to grant the request on his own terms (2:6–10; 7:10). The reason for the refusal is the same in each instance: Jesus’ “hour” or time has not yet come (2:4; 7:6). To the narrator, Jesus’ time refers to the final display of his glory when he will be crucified and raised from the dead in Jerusalem (cf. 12:23; 13:1). Only when Jesus has made it very clear that what he is about to undertake is not that final self-disclosure but a preliminary one is he free to go ahead and undertake it. His hand will not be forced by anyone, not even his own relatives. No one directs his movements but the Father, and when the time comes, “No one,” he says, “takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (10:18). It makes little difference whether the request is a gentle mention of a need by an (apparently) believing loved one (2:3) or a cynical and faithless challenge to give the public what it wants (7:4). In either case the request introduces a course of action already decided in God’s sovereign freedom. Jesus will go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, but not with his brothers and not at their prodding. He will make himself known to the world in his own way in Jerusalem, but the world will not set his agenda.

These concerns help explain the seeming duplicity of Jesus’ behavior in verses 8–10. He waits until his brothers have left for the festival and then makes his journey not publicly, but in secret (v. 10). Whether the secrecy consists merely in the avoidance of normal travel routes or of the company of his brothers en route—or whether something deeper is involved—is not explained at this point. There is undeniably a movement in chapters 7–8 from secrecy (7:10) to public discourse (7:26) and back to secrecy once more (8:59). The purpose of Jesus’ visit to the Feast of Tabernacles is revelation. He intends to do just what his brothers have suggested: show yourself to the world (v. 4). His self-revelation has a beginning, a certain duration, and a definite end. When it is finished, those who have heard his words will be divided, like his followers in chapter 6, into believers and unbelievers.

The basic division exists already. Even before Jesus arrives, some in the city are defending him as a good man while others denounce him as a deceiver of the people (v. 12; for similar disputes about Jesus, cf. 7:40–43; 9:16; 10:19–21). Jesus comes not only for self-disclosure but to make known as well “the thoughts of many hearts” (Luke 2:35; cf. John 3:19–21). The remainder of chapters 7–8 should be regarded as a continuous series of discourses by which a decisive judgment on the world—represented by Jerusalem and its temple—is accomplished.