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Jesus' Brothers Don't Have Faith in Him

Jesus decided to leave Judea and to start going through Galilee because the leaders of the people wanted to kill him. (A) It was almost time for the Festival of Shelters, and Jesus' brothers said to him, “Why don't you go to Judea? Then your disciples can see what you are doing. No one does anything in secret, if they want others to know about them. So let the world know what you are doing!” Even Jesus' own brothers had not yet become his followers.

Jesus answered, “My time hasn't yet come,[a] but your time is always here. The people of this world cannot hate you. They hate me, because I tell them that they do evil things. Go on to the festival. My time hasn't yet come, and I am not going.” Jesus said this and stayed on in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Shelters

10 After Jesus' brothers had gone to the festival, he went secretly, without telling anyone.

11 During the festival the leaders of the people looked for Jesus and asked, “Where is he?” 12 The crowds even got into an argument about him. Some were saying, “Jesus is a good man,” while others were saying, “He is lying to everyone.” 13 But the people were afraid of their leaders, and none of them talked in public about him.

14 When the festival was about half over, Jesus went into the temple and started teaching. 15 The leaders were surprised and said, “How does this man know so much? He has never been taught!”

16 Jesus replied:

I am not teaching something I thought up. What I teach comes from the one who sent me. 17 If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me. 18 If I wanted to bring honor to myself, I would speak for myself. But I want to honor the one who sent me. This is why I tell the truth and not a lie. 19 Didn't Moses give you the Law? Yet none of you obey it! So why do you want to kill me?

20 The crowd replied, “You're crazy! What makes you think someone wants to kill you?”

21 Jesus answered:

I worked one miracle,[b] and it amazed you. 22 (B) Moses commanded you to circumcise your sons. But it wasn't really Moses who gave you this command. It was your ancestors, and even on the Sabbath you circumcise your sons 23 (C) in order to obey the Law of Moses. Why are you angry with me for making someone completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Don't judge by appearances. Judge by what is right.

25 Some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn't this the man they want to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking for everyone to hear. And no one is arguing with him. Do you suppose the authorities know he is the Messiah? 27 But how could that be? No one knows where the Messiah will come from, but we know where this man comes from.”

28 As Jesus was teaching in the temple, he shouted, “Do you really think you know me and where I came from? I didn't come on my own! The one who sent me is truthful, and you don't know him. 29 But I know the one who sent me, because I came from him.”

30 Some of the people wanted to arrest Jesus right then. But no one even laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.[c] 31 A lot of people in the crowd put their faith in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he surely won't perform more miracles[d] than this man has done!”

Officers Sent To Arrest Jesus

32 When the Pharisees heard the crowd arguing about Jesus, they got together with the chief priests and sent some temple police to arrest him. 33 But Jesus told them, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I will return to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you won't find me. You cannot go where I am going.”

35 The people asked each other, “Where can he go to keep us from finding him? Is he going to some foreign country where our people live? Is he going there to teach the Greeks?[e] 36 What did he mean by saying that we will look for him, but won't find him? Why can't we go where he is going?”

Streams of Life-Giving Water

37 (D) On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink! 38 (E) Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.” 39 Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone that had faith in him. The Spirit had not yet been given to anyone, since Jesus had not yet been given his full glory.[f]

The People Take Sides

40 When the crowd heard Jesus say this, some of them said, “He must be the Prophet!”[g] 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah!” Others even said, “Can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 (F) The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of King David. Doesn't this mean that he will be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem?” 43 The people started taking sides against each other because of Jesus. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

The Leaders Refuse To Have Faith in Jesus

45 When the temple police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, they were asked, “Why didn't you bring Jesus here?”

46 They answered, “No one has ever spoken like this man!”

47 The Pharisees said to them, “Have you also been fooled? 48 Not one of the chief priests or the Pharisees has faith in him. 49 And these people who don't know the Law are under God's curse anyway.”

50 (G) Nicodemus was there at the time. He was a member of the council, and was the same one who had earlier come to see Jesus.[h] He said, 51 “Our Law doesn't let us condemn people before we hear what they have to say. We cannot judge them before we know what they have done.”

52 Then they said, “Nicodemus, you must be from Galilee! Read the Scriptures, and you will find that no prophet is to come from Galilee.”

A Woman Caught in Sin

53 Everyone else went home,

Footnotes

  1. 7.6 My time hasn't yet come: See the note at 2.4.
  2. 7.21 one miracle: The healing of the sick man (5.1-18; see also the note at 2.11).
  3. 7.30 his time had not yet come: See the note at 2.4.
  4. 7.31 miracles: See the note at 2.11.
  5. 7.35 Greeks: Perhaps Gentiles or Jews who followed Greek customs.
  6. 7.39 had not yet been given his full glory: In the Gospel of John, Jesus is given his full glory both when he is nailed to the cross and when he is raised from death to sit beside his Father in heaven.
  7. 7.40 the Prophet: See the note at 1.21.
  8. 7.50 who had earlier come to see Jesus: See 3.1-21.

1-2 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.

3-5 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.

6-8 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.”

9-11 He said this and stayed on in Galilee. But later, after his family had gone up to the Feast, he also went. But he kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself. The Jews were already out looking for him, asking around, “Where is that man?”

12-13 There was a lot of contentious talk about him circulating through the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” But others said, “Not so. He’s selling snake oil.” This kind of talk went on in guarded whispers because of the intimidating Jewish leaders.

Could It Be the Messiah?

14-15 With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: “How does he know so much without being schooled?”

16-19 Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn’t it, who gave you God’s Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?”

20 The crowd said, “You’re crazy! Who’s trying to kill you? You’re demon-possessed.”

21-24 Jesus said, “I did one miraculous thing a few months ago, and you’re still standing around getting all upset, wondering what I’m up to. Moses prescribed circumcision—originally it came not from Moses but from his ancestors—and so you circumcise a man, dealing with one part of his body, even if it’s the Sabbath. You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with me because I made a man’s whole body well on the Sabbath? Don’t be hypercritical; use your head—and heart!—to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right.”

25-27 That’s when some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the one they were out to kill? And here he is out in the open, saying whatever he pleases, and no one is stopping him. Could it be that the rulers know that he is, in fact, the Messiah? And yet we know where this man came from. The Messiah is going to come out of nowhere. Nobody is going to know where he comes from.”

28-29 That provoked Jesus, who was teaching in the Temple, to cry out, “Yes, you think you know me and where I’m from, but that’s not where I’m from. I didn’t set myself up in business. My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don’t know him at all. I come from him—that’s how I know him. He sent me here.”

30-31 They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn’t yet God’s time. Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, “Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?”

32-34 The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him. Jesus rebuffed them: “I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you won’t find me. Where I am, you can’t come.”

35-36 The Jews put their heads together. “Where do you think he is going that we won’t be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews? What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”

37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

40-44 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there was a split in the crowd over him. Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

45 That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?”

46 The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.”

47-49 The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble? You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees? It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.”

50-51 Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”

52-53 But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean? Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”

[Then they all went home.

The Unbelief of Jesus’s Brothers

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.(A) Now the Jewish Festival of Booths[a] was near.(B) So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing,(C) for no one who wants[b] to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (For not even his brothers believed in him.)(D) Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.(E) The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.(F) Go to the festival yourselves. I am not[c] going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Booths

10 But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but, as it were,[d] in secret. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”(G) 13 Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.(H)

14 About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?”(I) 16 Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.(J) 17 Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.(K) 18 Those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing unjust in him.(L)

19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”(M) 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”(N) 21 Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. 22 Because of this Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.(O) 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the Sabbath?(P) 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”(Q)

Is This the Christ?

25 Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?[e] 27 Yet we know where this man is from, but when the Messiah[f] comes no one will know where he is from.”(R) 28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.(S) 29 I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”(T) 30 Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come.(U) 31 Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah[g] comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”[h](V)

Officers Are Sent to Arrest Jesus

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.(W) 34 You will search for me, but you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.”(X) 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?(Y) 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me, but you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,(Z) 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As[i] the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart[j] shall flow rivers of living water.’ ”(AA) 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive, for as yet there was no Spirit[k] because Jesus was not yet glorified.(AB)

Division among the People

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.”[l] But some asked, “Surely the Messiah[m] does not come from Galilee, does he?(AC) 42 Has not the scripture said that the Messiah[n] is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”(AD) 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” 46 The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” 47 Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived, too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?(AE) 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law, they are accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus[o] before and who was one of them, asked, 51 “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”(AF) 52 They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

The Woman Caught in Adultery

[[53 Then each of them went home,

Footnotes

  1. 7.2 Or Tabernacles
  2. 7.4 Other ancient authorities read wants it
  3. 7.8 Other ancient authorities add yet
  4. 7.10 Other ancient authorities lack as it were
  5. 7.26 Or the Christ
  6. 7.27 Or the Christ
  7. 7.31 Or the Christ
  8. 7.31 Other ancient authorities read is doing
  9. 7.38 Or come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as
  10. 7.38 Gk out of his belly
  11. 7.39 Other ancient authorities read for as yet the Spirit (others, Holy Spirit) had not been given
  12. 7.41 Or the Christ
  13. 7.41 Or the Christ
  14. 7.42 Or the Christ
  15. 7.50 Gk him