John 7:1-27

After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because some evil people there wanted to kill him. It was time for the Feast of Shelters. So Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to Judea so your followers there can see the miracles you do. Anyone who wants to be well known does not hide what he does. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” (Even Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him.) Jesus said to his brothers, “The right time for me has not yet come, but any time is right for you. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I tell it the evil things it does. So you go to the feast. I will not go yet to this feast, because the right time for me has not yet come.” After saying this, Jesus stayed in Galilee. But after Jesus’ brothers had gone to the feast, Jesus went also. But he did not let people see him. At the feast some people were looking for him and saying, “Where is that man?” Within the large crowd there, many people were whispering to each other about Jesus. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “No, he fools the people.” But no one was brave enough to talk about Jesus openly, because they were afraid of the elders. When the feast was about half over, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach. The people were amazed and said, “This man has never studied in school. How did he learn so much?” Jesus answered, “The things I teach are not my own, but they come from him who sent me. If people choose to do what God wants, they will know that my teaching comes from God and not from me. Those who teach their own ideas are trying to get honor for themselves. But those who try to bring honor to the one who sent them speak the truth, and there is nothing false in them. Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys that law. Why are you trying to kill me?” The people answered, “A demon has come into you. We are not trying to kill you.” Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. Moses gave you the law about circumcision. (But really Moses did not give you circumcision; it came from our ancestors.) And yet you circumcise a baby boy on a Sabbath day. If a baby boy can be circumcised on a Sabbath day to obey the law of Moses, why are you angry at me for healing a person’s whole body on the Sabbath day? Stop judging by the way things look, but judge by what is really right.” Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him, and no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Christ. But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”