Day 22 - John 7:1-9
17 Feb 2017
“If Jesus is the incarnate Son of God then why did he choose to come to earth in the middle east 2,000 years ago - surely he would have made more of an impact if he’d have come to the West today, then he would have been reported across the mass media”. You can sometimes hear that kind of objection.
That’s not a new objection. In verse 3 Jesus’ disciples complain that he seems to be hiding himself away. “Why stay in Galilee, get yourself to Jerusalem where the people are!”. That was especially true as the city would have been full of people celebrating the feast of booths, where the people remembered the Lord’s provision for them in the wilderness.
How does Jesus respond? First, he questions their (and our) view of success. For the disciples, success meant crowds flocking to Jesus. It meant popular appeal. But Jesus says he is working with a different view. He didn’t come to achieve the kind of temporary success celebrity offers. Verse 6 - “My time has not yet come”. He doesn’t just want to make a splash - he is on earth to achieve a purpose.
Second, Jesus reminds the disciples (and us) that the world will always hate him. The disciples are operating under the assumption that Jesus has come to please the crowds. It is true - it may seem like no one has a bad word to say against Jesus. Even followers of other religions praise Jesus. Yet, it is a particular kind of Jesus that people are happy with. The kind of image of Jesus which is just “Bono in a loin cloth” - a Jesus who talks a lot about social justice. Yet, that is not the true Jesus.
Jesus testifies about the world “that its works are evil” (verse 7). Yes, he’s come to deal with the worlds problems. But he’s also come to reveal the worlds biggest problem - the evil of our own hearts. The judgement we deserve from a holy God. And faced with that message, we hate and will ultimately kill the messenger.
If Jesus wont go to Jerusalem now to achieve success, how will he be successful? We will see as we continue in John’s gospel. But verse 7 gives us a clue. “My time has not yet come”. But it is coming soon. And when it comes Jesus will head to Jerusalem. But not initially to be hailed as a hero, but to die as a criminal. To die in our place, bearing our judgement for our evil.