PLATFORMS AND SIDELINES
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Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for my gifts that come from you. Help me use those that are part of who I am to offer you praise and bring you glory.
Read JOHN 7:1–13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles
7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want[a] to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not[b] going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”
12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”
Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘My times are in your hands’:1 pause, entrusting this moment, this day, to God.
‘Seize the day! Secure a platform. You are doing great tricks. Everyone loves your stories. But not here. This is the back of beyond. Why not grab the stage at a big festival? If you have something life-changing to offer, shouldn’t you be at the heart of a religious zone, where the movers and shakers, the educated and influencers, gather?’
Picture Jesus walking, his brothers’ proposals buzzing like flies in his ears. He shakes them off, hurt perhaps by their daredevil teasing, their delusion concerning everything about him, even after all these years together. They have gone with a pilgrim crowd to the feast of Tabernacles. Jesus has delayed his journey until the festival is half over. En route, he’s passed rural homes and, now, city dwellings hugged by temporary shelters covered with branches. He’s watched families inside, their tables groaning with recently harvested grapes and olives, recalling God’s care for his people, from ancient wilderness wanderings until today. The flimsy tents contrast with the grandeur of the temple coming into view. This place, the focus of the feast, scarcely reflects the sense of fragility and dependence on God that is its theological core. On this stage, its leaders hog the limelight, basking in political power, controlling the religious system and voices through fear. They choose to ignore the prophets’ vital role as God’s mouthpieces from the sidelines.
What is in Jesus’ heart as he arrives in Jerusalem? Surrounded by this ancient feast of gratitude and grace, he is beset by murderous hatred, cynical murmuring, familial misunderstanding, and feverish curiosity. Yet he is also absorbed in loving obedience to the Father. Passover in six months, not Tabernacles, will be the right time for a very different type of revelation.
Apply
How does your church advertise the truth of Jesus? When image and public relations are so integral to modern communication, how can you stay close to his ways?
Closing prayer
Jesus, wherever you give me opportunity, help me to share who you are with singleness of purpose and courage.
1 Ps 31:15
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