John 7:1-24

Jesus attended the feast of Tabernacles -- John 7:1-24: Jesus kept away from the Jews who were seeking to kill Him by remaining in Galilee. The time came for the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus quietly attended. This was one of the feasts that Jewish men were expected to attend. (Deuteronomy 16:16) Jesus' brothers wanted Him to go to this feast and publicly prove to the people that He was the Messiah. This is a strange request because they were unbelievers at this time. Jesus said the Jews hated Him because he exposed their sins. Jesus could not and did not compromise with sin. Many were waiting to see Jesus at the Feast and they were watching for Him. There was both discussion and disagreement as people talked about Jesus. Either Jesus is both Lord and Christ or he is a fraud and deceiver. If Jesus is not Lord He could not be a good man. At first the criticism raised against Jesus was that He did not have a formal education. Yet, the people were amazed at His teachings, "Never man spake like this man." Jesus could speak with power because His message came from God and that is all people need to know. The Jews hated Jesus because He had healed a man on the Sabbath. (John 5:1-47) He pointed out that they were not keeping the Law God gave through Moses. They would circumcise a man on the Sabbath because that was the right thing to do. Jesus said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." He wanted it understood that it might appear wrong to heal a man on the Sabbath but healing him was the right thing to do.