Jesus and His Brothers

7 ¹After this, Jesus traveled around the country of Galilee. Jesus did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there wanted to kill him. ²It was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters.* ³So Jesus' brothers said to him, "You should leave here and go to [the festival in] Judea. Then your followers there can see the miracles* you do. ⁴If a person wants the people to know him, then that person must not hide the things he does. Show yourself to the world. [Let them see] these things (miracles) you do." ⁵(Even Jesus' brothers did not believe in him.) ⁶Jesus said to his brothers, "The right time for me has not yet come. But any time is right for you [to go]. ⁷The world cannot hate you. But the world hates me. Why? Because I tell the people in the world that they do evil things. ⁸So you go to the festival. I will not go to the festival now. The right time for me has not yet come." ⁹After Jesus said this, he stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰So Jesus' brothers left to go to the festival. After they left, Jesus went too. But Jesus did not let people see him. ¹¹At the festival the Jews were looking for Jesus. The Jews said, "Where is that man?" ¹²There was a large group of people there. Many of these people were talking secretly to each other about Jesus. Some people said, "He is a good man." But other people said, "No, he fools the people." ¹³But none of the people were brave enough to talk about Jesus openly. The people were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

Jesus Teaches in Jerusalem

¹⁴The festival* was about half finished. Then Jesus went to the temple* area and began to teach. ¹⁵The Jews were amazed. They said, "This man has never studied in school. How did he learn so much?" ¹⁶Jesus answered, "The things I teach are not my own. My teaching comes from him (God) who sent me. ¹⁷If a person wants to do what God wants, then that person will know that my teaching comes from God. That person will know that this teaching is not my own. ¹⁸Any person that teaches his own ideas is trying to get honor for himself. But a person that tries to bring honor to the one that sent him--that person speaks the truth. There is nothing false in him. ¹⁹Moses gave you the law.* Right? But none of you obey that law. Why are you trying to kill me?" ²⁰The people answered, "A demon* has come into you [and made you crazy]! We are not trying to kill you." ²¹Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle* [on a Sabbath day*] and you were all surprised. ²²But you obey the law Moses gave you the law about circumcision* --and sometimes you do it on a Sabbath day. (Really, Moses is not the one that gave you circumcision. Circumcision came from our people [that lived before Moses].) Yes, you often circumcise babies on a Sabbath day. ²³This shows that a person can be circumcised on a Sabbath day to obey the law of Moses. So why are you angry at me for healing a person's whole body on the Sabbath day? ²⁴Stop judging by the way things look. Be fair and judge by what is really right."

Festival of Shelters A special week each year when the Jews lived in tents to remember that their people wandered in the desert 40 years during the time of Moses. miracle(s) Miracles are amazing works done by God's power. festival The Festival of Shelters. See verse 2. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship. law Moses gave God's people the law that God gave him on Mount Sinai (Ex. 34:29-32). demon(s) Demons are evil spirits from the devil. Sabbath day(s) The Sabbath day (seventh day of the week) was a special religious day for the Jews. circumcision Cutting off the foreskin. This was done to every Jewish baby boy. It was a mark of the agreement God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14).