New Testament in a Year

Jesus Goes to the Feast of Booths

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He didn’t want to travel around in Judea. That was because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. ² The Jewish Feast of Booths was near. ³ Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea. Then your disciples there will see the works that you do. ⁴ No one who wants to be well known does things in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ Even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in him.

⁶ So Jesus told them, “The time for me to show who I really am is not here yet. For you, any time would be the right time. ⁷ The people of the world can’t hate you. But they hate me. This is because I am a witness that their works are evil. ⁸ You go to the feast. I am not going up to this feast. This is because my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After he said this, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰ But when his brothers had left for the feast, he went also. But he went secretly, not openly. ¹¹ At the feast the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus. They were asking, “Where is he?”

¹² Many people in the crowd were whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No. He fools the people.” ¹³ But no one would say anything about him openly. They were afraid of the leaders.

Jesus Teaches at the Feast

¹⁴ Jesus did nothing until halfway through the feast. Then he went up to the temple courtyard and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews there were amazed. They asked, “How did this man learn so much without being taught?”

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “What I teach is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Here is how someone can find out whether my teaching comes from God or from me. That person must choose to do what God wants them to do. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does it to get personal honor. But someone who works for the honor of the one who sent him is truthful. Nothing about him is false. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moses give you the law? But not one of you obeys the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰ “You are controlled by demons,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²² Moses gave you circumcision, and so you circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. But circumcision did not really come from Moses. It came from Abraham. ²³ You circumcise a boy on the Sabbath day. You think that if you do, you won’t break the law of Moses. Then why are you angry with me? I healed a man’s entire body on the Sabbath day! ²⁴ Stop judging only by what you see. Judge in the right way.”

People Don’t Agree About Who Jesus Is

²⁵ Then some of the people of Jerusalem began asking questions. They said, “Isn’t this the man some people are trying to kill? ²⁶ Here he is! He is speaking openly. They aren’t saying a word to him. Have the authorities really decided that he is the Messiah? ²⁷ But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”