Jesus Adheres To His Mission (J27)

Jesus focused on His earthly mission:
To die, in atonement for the sins of man;
That death must be by Jewish commission,
The exact day of God’s choosing in His plan!
When taunted by His own younger brothers,
To go up to Judah for Jewish feast,
“My time has not come; you go, with others,
Any time is all right for you, at least!
The Jews hate me; evil ones, I called them;
Pharisees will kill me now, if they can!”
But He went in secret; crowds talked of Him,
Not loud, for fear of the Jews’ heavy hand!
Even His own brothers believed Him not,
At this time, but later His message got!

“After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely, staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world!’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” (John 7:1-5) (The complete text of this poem/commentary is taken from John 7:1-13.)

Commentary on John 7:1-13

To Jews, the “world” was Jerusalem, capitol of Judea. Jesus had a very complex mission to accomplish during His time on earth. It was especially difficult during His 3-year ministry. Every word and act had to be considered in order for His mission to be a success. There were complicated limitations placed upon Him by the tangle of intersecting conditions under which He labored.

First and foremost, He had to die on the cross; it had to happen on an exact day, with the Jews responsible for His death. He had to live without sin; He wanted to be accepted by as many individuals, especially Jews, as possible; yet He had to obfuscate His teaching so that the judgment of God upon the race (See Isaiah 6:9-10) would dull enough of their spiritual insights to keep a popular uprising from forcing His national acceptance. He had to keep in His mind the prophecies of the Hebrew scripture concerning the Messiah (340 at least), so they would all be precisely fulfilled. He also established the Kingdom of God based on a covenant of grace and the church. It is no wonder that to many who heard Him, His words were not understood, and that He did not leave Himself in a position that His death could occur before its planned time.

The Roman Catholic Church has the belief that His mother Mary remained virginal all her life, and that Jesus had no siblings. This is not the only place in the Bible that such a doctrine is refuted. Joseph, His foster-father, died before He began His public ministry. But Jesus had several brothers and at least one sister born of Joseph and Mary. How could John the apostle who took Mary into his household for the post-crucifixion remainder of her life have written this scripture, if He had no brothers? I have heard it explained by the Jewish custom of calling cousins “brothers”, but to believe it to be true in this case is not possible.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)