David Bahn – Reflections

John 7:1-13

 ¹After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. ²Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. ³ So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. ⁴For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”⁵ For not even his brothers believed in him. ⁶Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

 ¹⁰But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” ¹²And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” ¹³Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

Some people worry about the will of God as though to believe that God is over all things makes us like puppets on a string. Others, however, want to turn things completely around and make God their puppet, pulling the strings one way or another to suit their own sensibilities, desires and whims. Jesus’ brothers were in this latter category. They thought they knew better than he did about pursuing his mission and fulfilling his calling. Whether people thought well or ill of Jesus they all had opinions about him and how he was living out his mission.

Sometimes I struggle with how God is running the universe – at least the part of the universe that directly impacts me. Whether it’s the unwelcome visit of cancer to a family member, the unending challenges of the struggling economy, or personal challenges of health or relationships: we do question the goodness, wisdom, power, and love of God.

How foolish! Jesus shows his brothers that he is quite capable of timing his own ministry. He may choose to be present at the feast, but it will be in private – not as a spectacle or a public launch of a political campaign. There will be a time for Jesus to be publicly displayed. But even then it will be unlike anything his brothers would expect. His exaltation will be on a cross. His glory stripped from him, he will die alone. If ever it looked like God wasn’t running things properly (and that Jesus was a puppet on the strings of man’s whims!) it was on Calvary.

It might be that we need to reassess our understanding of God’s work in our lives. In those dark and difficult times we face God may well be doing a greater and better work than we could ever imagine. And when it’s all said and done we who yet trust in him will be eternally glad that he was not our puppet and that we don’t have the universe under our control. Our puppeteer skills aren’t that good!