² But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, ³ and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! ⁴ You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” ⁵ For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

⁶ Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. ⁷ The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. ⁸ You go on. I’m not going^[a] to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” ⁹ After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple

¹⁰ But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. ¹¹ The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. ¹² There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” ¹³ But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.

¹⁴ Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach.

Jesus, the Light of the World

¹² Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”