Having said these things to them he abode in Galilee.
One short sentence closes the exchange with His brothers. He had spoken, and then He stayed where He was while others went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Why would the Son of God turn down the public platform His own family pressed on Him?
Jesus had just told His brothers to go up to the feast, and said He was not going up. That has long puzzled readers. One writer notes that some copies soften it by adding "yet," to answer an early critic. He points to what really governed the Lord's movements:
The reading "not yet" seems to have arisen from a desire to meet Porphyry's charge that Jesus was inconsistent. But the Lord's not going up then was simply an illustration of something this Evangelist speaks of elsewhere. He depended on the Father, who directed Him day by day in what He said (verse 16) and in what He did (verse 19). The natural explanation of Westcott and Plummer removes any real difficulty — the Lord meant He would not keep the feast.
Staying in Galilee was not fear. The same writer shows Him avoiding Judea, where people wanted Him dead, while He worked in the north:
So we see the Lord in the despised place, the True Light — not in the city of solemn feasts. There darkness reigned all the more because nobody suspected it. And in Galilee He walks about on His errand of love. He does not wait for souls to seek Him; He seeks them, so that by believing they might have life in Him. He avoids Judea. He knows that the people there sided with the murderous hatred of their rulers and were seeking to kill Him. He was unwilling — one need not say afraid — to walk about there. He was subject to His Father's will in this.
Galilee was the despised region. Another writer draws out what that choice meant:
Having said this, "he remained in Galilee." He had gone there at His first rejection. We do find Him going up to Jerusalem to keep the feasts, but He stayed there. "The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned" (Matt. 4:15-16). For judgment He came into the world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. "You say you see," He told the Pharisees, "therefore your sin remains." He was "Jesus of Galilee." The poor despised Galileans had the light when the Jews did not.
His brothers wanted a public display. One commentator explains why He could not give them one:
The Lord's reply shows that, if He has been rejected, the time had not come for His public showing to the world, or for His taking a public part in its affairs. When the Lord does step in publicly, it will be by judgment. Suppose He had taken any public part in the nation at that moment, as His brothers wished. That would have meant judgment for the nation.
One writer reads the Feast of Tabernacles as still unfulfilled. That explains why the Lord would not keep it that year:
In this chapter (7) it is the Feast of Tabernacles — that is, after the judgment. The harvest and the vintage must come first, both symbols of judgment (compare Deut. 16:13 and Rev. 14:14-20). So the Feast of Tabernacles has never yet been fulfilled. Christ was not going to fulfil it at that time. His time was not yet come. His brothers said, "Show yourself to the world," but He could not, for His time had not come. He could go up to the Passover, for He was Himself the Passover, so that was fulfilled. Pentecost, too, was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came down.
One writer sees His staying behind as a picture of where Christ and His people stand now:
There is a clear break with the world. Flesh has proved no longer capable of association or fellowship. It really never was; but now it takes its own way, and the Lord withdraws. His brothers go up to the Feast of Tabernacles without Him; He does not go up, but stays in Galilee. Only after they have gone does He go, and then not openly, as they wanted, but as in secret — more so than ever before. He is content to be hidden, as it were. That is a picture of what He really is now — and of us with Him, hidden in God, as far as our life is concerned.
- Timing — He refused to travel out of obedience, not inconsistency. The Father directed Him day by day, in what He said and what He did.
- Withdrawal — Judea wanted Him dead. He was unwilling to go, not afraid, and He left the city of feasts to its unsuspected darkness.
- Galilee — He stayed in the despised region. There a great light dawned on people sitting in darkness.
- Restraint — A public showing then would have meant judgment for the nation. So He took no public part.
- Hiddenness — The Feast of Tabernacles still waits to be fulfilled. Meanwhile Christ is hidden, and His people's life is hidden with Him in God.
But when his brethren had gone up, then he himself also went up to the feast, not openly, but as in secret.
His brothers had already left for the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. He followed too — but not with them, and not in the open.
The phrase describes how He arrived, not a change of mind. Older translations put it, "not openly, but as it were in secret" — the wording the writers below use.
His brothers went without Him. Would Peter, James, John and the rest have gone up without Him? They had found in Him — Judas excepted — what met their hearts' desire. But the Lord would now show His desire to satisfy the heart of every creature. So He went up, not openly, that is, not publicly, but as it were in secret, and only appeared in the middle of it.
His brothers had urged a public display. One writer weighs His refusal against what the feast of Tabernacles still points to.
In John 7 His own brothers were still sunk in unbelief. They wanted Him to show Himself to the world if He did these great things. But the time for this had not yet come. He will do so when the picture given by the feast of tabernacles is fulfilled. The Passover found its fulfilment at the cross, and Pentecost at the coming of the Holy Spirit. The feast of tabernacles has as yet had no fulfilment.
If He had done what His brothers asked, the result would not have been applause but judgment.
Our Lord's brothers pressed Him to go up to the feast publicly. He declined. When the Lord presents Himself publicly, He must take out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:41-42). If the Lord had gone up publicly and removed every offender, how many would have been left?
Another writer sees the delay as a door held open:
It is blessed, very blessed for the world, for the saints, and for those still to be gathered in, that the Lord did not show Himself openly at the feast, because His time had not yet come. "Show yourself to the world" was His brothers' request. This He refused. He went up secretly and taught at the feast. He invited everyone to come and share His mercy, before He should disclose Himself openly.
Going up in secret was not withdrawal from people. It changed who He was there for.
Having borne witness to His break with the world, the Lord goes up to the feast, "not openly, but as it were in secret". He goes up to Jerusalem, not to take a public place in the world, but to draw people out of the world.
By this time the feasts had stopped being the Lord's own:
They had long ceased to be the Lord's feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him. So in John 7, when Jesus was asked to go up to "the Jews' feast of tabernacles," He answered, "My time has not yet come." When He did go, He went privately. He took His place outside the whole thing, and called every thirsty soul to come to Him and drink.
One writer reads the contrast between their journey and His as a pattern that still holds.
His brothers go up to the feast of Tabernacles without Him; He does not go up, but stays in Galilee. Only after they had gone does He go, and then not openly, as they wanted, but as in secret — more so than ever before. He is content to be, as it were, hidden. That is a picture of what He really is now — and we are hidden with Him in God, as far as our life is concerned.
Verse 8 says He is not going. Verse 10 says He went. Critics long called this a contradiction. Some copies smooth it over by adding "yet."
The reading "not yet" seems to have come from a desire to answer Porphyry's charge that Jesus was inconsistent. But His not going up then simply illustrated what this Gospel writer shows elsewhere: His dependence on the Father. The Father directed Him day by day, in both speech and action. The natural explanation of Westcott and Plummer removes any real difficulty — the Lord meant that He would not go to keep the feast.
- Hidden, by design. He went up "as it were in secret" — not publicly, appearing only once the feast was under way.
- Hidden, because the type waits. The cross fulfilled Passover, and the coming of the Spirit fulfilled Pentecost. Tabernacles still waits, so the public showing was not yet due.
- Hidden, and that is mercy. A public appearing would mean removing all that offends. The delay leaves room for more people to come in.
- Hidden, yet reaching people. He took no place inside a religion that had shut Him out. He stood outside it and called every thirsty soul to Himself.
- Hidden, and still so. His hiding then pictures Christ now — hidden in God, and our life hidden with Him, until He shows Himself openly.
The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
Jerusalem is packed for the feast of tabernacles, and the man everyone is talking about is nowhere to be seen. The leaders search the crowd and ask a short question, and that question shows they had lost track of Him.
In John's account "the Jews" does not mean the whole nation. It means one group based in Jerusalem. The crowds around them are different people.
Let us notice, in passing, that we must not confuse the people and the Jews. The people were Galileans and others who had come to take part in the feast. The Jews were those of Jerusalem itself, or at least of the area around it. So in verse 20 the people did not know that they wanted to kill Jesus. Those of Jerusalem, on the contrary, knew well what they were plotting there against Him.
This verse is one of the clearest places to watch that usage settle into its fixed sense.
"The Jews." Here the special meaning that this title takes on in this Gospel is very clear.
Everyone at the feast was looking for Him, but not in the same spirit. The crowds wavered. The leaders had already made up their minds.
Their expectation of Him was fully raised. They sought Him at the feast, but with the usual uncertainty and doubts of unbelief. This, though, was among the undecided crowd. The Jews in the strict sense were settled in their refusal to acknowledge Him as the Messiah.
Their question was not curiosity. They were hunting Him, and the hunt failed.
The Jews had sought Him to kill Him, but failed to find Him. Then, it seems, the object of their hatred suddenly appeared in the Temple. It was the most public place there was, and Jerusalem was crowded with worshippers from all parts.
He was at the feast, but not in the open. The way He came matched the work He came to do.
He had borne witness to His break with the world. Now the Lord goes up to the feast, "not publicly but in private." He goes up to Jerusalem, not to take a public place in the world, but to draw people out of the world.
The complaint against Him was that He would not make Himself known. Yet He was never silent.
They blamed our Lord for not making Himself known openly. But He could not do this. He spoke openly, yet He could not make Himself known openly, for He was a moral Saviour. He spoke that way, and so the world hated Him. If He had shown Himself, it must have been in judgment. But He did speak quite openly, and in that way He made Himself known. He was content to glorify the Father and to let His own glory stay hidden.
His hiding was mercy, not avoidance. It kept the door open.
How blessed it is for the world, for the saints, and for those still to be gathered in, that the Lord did not show Himself openly at the feast, "because His time had not yet come." He went up secretly instead. He taught at the feast, inviting everyone to come and share in His mercy, before He should disclose Himself openly.
Look at the scene. The feast is in full swing, and the men keeping it are hunting the Son of God to kill Him.
Terrible contradiction! Deadly delusion! Seeking to murder the Son of God, and yet keeping the feast of tabernacles! That is religious man without God.
The feast was His own, yet He had no place in it.
The Lord therefore does not go up at first, or openly, to the feast. He is neither Lord there, nor even a welcome Guest... So He remains alone in His unique and perfect Manhood. His very perfection makes these men strangers to Him.
- Sought by the leaders. "The Jews" here means the Jerusalem group, not the pilgrim crowds. Those crowds did not know what their rulers were plotting.
- Sought with malice. The crowds asked about Him in doubt. The leaders had already made up their minds, and their hunt came up empty.
- Sought, but hidden. He went up secretly, not to take a public place in the world, but to draw people out of it.
- Hidden in mercy. An open display then could only have meant judgment. His hiding kept the invitation open, and He still taught openly.
- Sought at His own feast. Men kept the feast while hunting its Lord to kill Him. That is religion at full strength with no room for Christ.
And there was much murmuring concerning him among the crowds. Some said, He is [a] good [man]; others said, No; but he deceives the crowd.
Jerusalem is full for the feast, and the crowds are talking about Jesus under their breath. Their whispers split two ways, which raises a hard question: can someone call Jesus good and still miss who He is?
The way Jesus came to the feast started the muttering. He arrived without any public announcement.
Having borne witness to His break with the world, the Lord goes up to the feast, "not openly, but as it were in secret". He goes up to Jerusalem, not to take a public place in the world, but to draw people out of the world. This attitude of the Lord, as being in the world but not of it, raises "much murmuring among the people". Some recognise that, at least, He is "a good man"; others treat Him with contempt as a deceiver.
Even the kinder half of the crowd was not on Christ's side. One writer listens to the tone of both groups. (The ESV says the second group called Him "leading the people astray"; the writers quote the older wording, "He deceives the people.")
This gives rise to questions and whispers about Him among the crowds. Some talk about Him with a superior air, others with the deepest ill-will and contempt. Even so, no one spoke about Him in public or openly. The leaders of Judaea kept men in fear.
Talking about Christ can itself prove that a person has not yet received Him. One writer sets the crowd's debate beside Peter's answer to Jesus.
There is much murmuring among the people concerning Him: some say, "He is a good man"; others, "No; but He deceives the people." The Lord might bring blessing out of it. But they are reasoning and discussing. This is just the proof that they have nothing to say to it as yet... But Peter replies to the question, "But who do you say that I am?" He says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." So the Lord tells him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." There was personal recognition of Himself. Where there is that, there is no discussion. By turning Him into a subject to discuss in their own minds, they had not submitted to the righteousness of God. Where people's minds are at work discussing the right and the wrong, there is not the mind of the newborn baby. They are not receiving, but judging.
The compliment does not survive a second look. One writer shows where it leads.
To call our Lord a good Man and try to rob us of His deity, as these people do, shows more than an amazing lack of judgment. It shows that the devil has blinded them. The apostate Jews were more consistent. There was nothing for them between His being God, and a mere blasphemer. The believing remnant owned Him as God, but the unbelieving mass put Him to death as a blasphemer. By praising Him as a good Man, apostate Christendom seeks to come in between. In doing so it cuts the ground from beneath its own feet.
Another writer puts the choice in two lines:
If Jesus was a good Man He was God. If He was not God, He was not a good man. The issue is plain.
Whatever people thought, they kept their voices down. One writer sees the same pressure at work today.
The crowd was murmuring about Him. People gave their opinions and traded views... "However," writes John, "no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews" (7:13). What a hold on the people they had! Have we not seen something of this in modern times, and even in our own days? "The fear of man lays a snare." Church censures seem so terrible. "But whoever trusts in the Lord is safe" (Prov. 29:25).
Those who follow Christ can expect people to divide over them too.
In a world such as this, the true servant of God will at times be treated as deceivers by some and as true by others. It was so with the Lord, for some dared to say, "He deceives the people," while others said He was "a good Man" (John 7:12)... In all these ways the disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord.
- Hidden. Christ came to the feast in secret. He took no public place in the world; He came to draw people out of it. That secrecy set the crowd murmuring.
- Divided. The whispering split two ways: some talked about Him with a superior air, others with contempt. Neither group believed.
- Discussing. Weighing opinions about Christ shows a person is judging Him, not receiving Him. Peter's confession shows what faith sounds like.
- Deciding. "A good man" is not a safe middle position. If He was good, He was God; if He was not God, He was not good.
- Declaring. Fear of the leaders kept the crowd quiet. The servant who does speak will meet the same divided verdict his Master met.
However, no one spoke openly concerning him on account of [their] fear of the Jews.
Crowds filled Jerusalem for the feast. The leaders were hunting for Jesus, and the people argued about Him in low voices. This verse says why they kept their voices down, and it raises a hard question: what does fear do to someone who has an opinion about Christ but no courage to say it?
John's Gospel uses "the Jews" in a narrow sense, and the whole verse turns on that. The crowd and "the Jews" are two different groups, and one was afraid of the other.
Let us notice, in passing, that we must not confuse the people with the Jews. The people were made up of Galileans and others who had come to take part in the feast. The Jews were those of Jerusalem itself, or at least of the area around it. So in verse 20 the people did not know that anyone wanted to kill Jesus. Those of Jerusalem, by contrast, knew exactly what they were plotting there against Him.
Who were they? Writers point to the nation's religious rulers, and to the advantages they wasted:
They were clearly the religious head, or rulers of the people, scribes and Pharisees. But John generally calls them "the Jews." (See John 1:19; John 2:18; 5:10; John 7:13, etc.) In John 5 the Lord convicts them. They had the witness of the Father's works, done in the earlier days of their nation. His own works at the pool of Bethesda were like them. They had the testimony of John, and they had their own Scriptures. But they had not obeyed, they had not believed.
Opinions were flying — some kind, some cruel. None of it reached public speech.
This gives rise to questions and whispers about Him among the crowds. Some speak in a patronising way, others with the utmost ill-will and contempt. But even so there was no talk in public, or plainly. The leaders of Judea kept men in fear.
Debating a person is not the same as receiving Him:
And now we find what is going on in hearts. There is much murmuring among the people about Him: some say, "He is a good man"; others, "No, he is leading the people astray." The Lord might bring blessing out of it. But they are reasoning and discussing, and this is just the proof that they have nothing to say to it yet... Where people's minds are at work discussing the right and the wrong, that is not the mind of a newborn child. They are not receiving, but judging.
Fear ruled the crowd at that feast. It did not rule the One they whispered about.
The multitude did not dare to speak openly; but Jesus did. He did not hide His righteousness and truth in the great congregation. He had not held back His lips, and God, even His Father, knew that.
His quiet arrival at the feast had a reason of its own:
Having borne witness to His break with the world, the Lord goes up to the feast, "not publicly but in private". He goes up to Jerusalem, not to take a public place in the world, but to draw individuals out of the world.
That hold the leaders had on people did not stay in the past:
What a hold on the people they had! Have we not seen something of this in modern times, and even in our own days? "The fear of man lays a snare." Church censures seem so terrible. "But whoever trusts in the LORD is safe" (Prov. 29:25). Yes. And yet how quick men are to give in to the snare, and to forget the Lord!
Two men in this Gospel believed in secret and kept quiet. Then their fear broke:
Who was this Joseph of Arimathea? A wealthy man of the Jews and a secret disciple of the Lord Jesus. Fear of the Jews had kept his discipleship in the background. But now that the Lord had died, and after the mighty events that had taken place, he comes boldly to the front. His fear became a holy boldness... Nicodemus was a very timid man by nature. He came to the Lord by night for fear of the Jews... But the death of Christ brought him and Joseph of Arimathea deliverance from the fear of men. Light and liberty flashed in their souls as the result of the death of Christ.
- Fear names the room. The whisperers were the feast crowd. The men they feared were the Jerusalem leaders, who knew of the plot against Jesus.
- Fear reduces witness to murmuring. Opinions were everywhere — good man, deceiver. But reasoning and discussing proves a heart has not yet received Him.
- Fear did not touch Christ. The crowd dared not speak openly. He did, and did not hide His righteousness and truth.
- Fear is a snare, still. The same hold works today. The answer stands: whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
- Fear can break. Joseph and Nicodemus hid their faith until the death of Christ freed them from the fear of men.