But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.
These relatives of Jesus had their own ideas about how he should handle public relations. They themselves did not believe in him and seemed to think that a confrontation in Judea might final force him to give up on the whole thing. Or else he might finally prove himself in a definitive and conclusive way. They would accept either outcome. But the brothers were thinking in a worldly way, concerned with approaches that would win the praise of the world. Jesus had to operate differently, carefully, because the world hated him. He knew exactly what moves to make and those which would have to wait, because he knew the Jewish authorities were trying to kill him. He himself would be the one who dictated the time and circumstances under which he would lay down his life.
Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
Jesus was not afraid to give testimony, to try to persuade, to continue to the very last to seek and to save the lost. He didn't go to the feast for his glory, but because it was a part of his Father's plan for the progressive manifestation of the identity of the Son. He did not argue with the citizens of Jerusalem because he had something to prove, but neither did he hold back because of fear. He did strive to clarify his identity and his mission, and to reject the distortions about him that were made based on appearances. He did this not out of pride for he knew that even this would lead inexorably to the cross. But out of obedience his Father and love for mankind he couldn't help but try.
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
They did not know where he was from. They thought that they did, and that knowing that made them feel some measure of control over him. But there was more to Jesus than mere appearance would tell. His earthly origins seemed to make it unlikely or impossible that he was the Messiah. But the hidden reality of his heavenly origins was the guarantee that he was. If those to whom he came realized this hidden reality he himself ought to have been received as the culmination of God's revelation to the Jewish people. But the leadership, at least, was finally too interested in self-promotion and too invested in sin to see it. If they had truly desired what the Father desired they would have welcomed the Son. But instead they were fated to act as the wicked described in the book of Wisdom:
To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.
In what ways do we presume to know about Jesus "where he is from"? What limits do we imagine upon him because of our familiarity with what we have seen of him in the past? When we imagine these limitations on Jesus what is our reason? Is it because we ourselves are invested in sin, or at least in comfort? Is he sometimes a censure even to our ways of living and acting that makes us want to put him to the test?
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.
We would probably humanly prefer a dramatic revelation to the world of the identity of Jesus that would be impossible to deny. In this we are much like the faithless brothers. We can't easily come to terms with the hidden aspect of his mission. That he holds back at all from what he could do seems to us grounds for doubt in his power or his intention. But then as now Jesus is going about his mission of building the Kingdom with surgical precision. He is ensuring that he will be able to manifest the Father's love in the most perfect way possible, and that no one who is given to him by the Father will be lost. We are called to trust him as he speaks to us openly and from his heart, learning ourselves to desire the will that is both his and his Father's.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
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