John 7:1-18 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.… The prophecy that the Messiah should be "despised and rejected by men" was here fulfilled to the very letter. His brethren, who should have been the first, were the last to believe on Him. I. HOW STRANGE THIS WAS. 1. They had heard His doctrine, not as strangers or near neighbours, but in the familiar intercourse of home. 2. They had seen His miracles (John 2:11, 12). 3. They had known the circumstances and manner of His life. They had heard no doubt of the marvels attendent on His birth, and had watched His pure and benevolent life for thirty-three years. II. HOW IT MAY BE ACCOUNTED FOR. This is necessary, for the text is a great favourite with modern Jews and infidels, who hold that His brethren could not have been more incredulous than others. It is singular, however, on this theory, that John should have made so damaging an admission. But — 1. It is no uncommon thing for men to disbelieve in the face of the clearest evidence. To the Jews we reply that the Israelites did not believe in the Lord and Moses, though they could not deny the miracles; and to the deists that many deny God and immortality, notwithstanding the variety and strength of arguments in favour of both. 2. These men had strong prejudices against Christ. (1) Some were common to them as sinful men, arising from the purity of His doctrine and the stringency of His demands. (2) Some were peculiar to them as Jews arising from their conceptions of a temporal Messiah. They did not contest His miracles but thought that they should be displayed, if Messianic, at Jerusalem, so as to receive the suffrages of the great, and not in the obscurity of Galilee. 3. They were under the influence of an ambitious worldly spirit as Christ intimates in the next verse. Application: 1. Let us not wonder if some, who have enjoyed the greatest religious advantages, do not believe. What advantages these brethren must have had! And yet how little the impression produced. Do not wonder then, Christian parents, if, with the best of training, your children are not yet converted. But do not despair. Remember that Christ's brethen eventually became His disciples (Acts 1:14). 2. See what an enemy to Christianity a worldly spirit is. With their views Christ's brethren held that if He were Messiah they would share His temporal glory. A worldly covetous disposition hinders multitudes from believing and obeying Christ. How much better is a relation to Christ by faith than by nature. (J. Orton.) Parallel Verses KJV: After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. |
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