Show Yourself to the World
John 7:2-9 records:
"Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to Him, 'Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.' For even His brothers did not believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.' When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee."

The Feast of Tabernacles was one of the three annual Jewish feasts that required the attendance of all Hebrew males in Jerusalem (cf. Deut. 16:13-16). During the feast the people camped in tents in remembrance of the fact that their ancestors had done the same during their wanderings in the wilderness. The feast was a joyful time in that the people celebrated their deliverance from Egyptian bondage and gave thanksgiving for the year's crops that were harvested.

Jesus' half-brothers, who did not believe in Him (cf. John 7:5), speak sarcastically at this time and instruct Him to go to Judea, an area He had been avoiding for approximately six months (cf. 7:1). Their words clearly show their disbelief - "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world." His brothers seem to be implying that if He really were "genuine," then He wouldn't be avoiding Judea as He had been. They assume that Jesus wants to increase His number of followers, and thus it seems foolish to them that He would not take full advantage of a feast such as this where multitudes would be gathered together. While it was true that Jesus desired to increase His number of faithful disciples, there were others issues to consider which He explains to them starting in 7:6.

Let it be understood that the statement concerning Jesus' works being done in secret was not accurate. Admittedly, His works of the prior half-year were not done in Judea, but Jesus was still working publicly elsewhere (e.g., feeding the four thousand, healing the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, healing the man in Decapolis, etc.). Although His brothers currently did not believe in Him, later they would (cf. Acts 1:14; Psa. 69:8).

Jesus began His response to His family skeptics - "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready." If Jesus had entered Jerusalem then in the manner in which He did at the next Passover (cf. Matt. 21), He would have accelerated the opposition of the rulers, and the crucifixion might have occurred six months too soon. Jesus knew the correct timetable for His activities and was aware of those things that still needed to be accomplished before His death. Thus, He patiently told them that His time had not yet come to enter into Jerusalem in a bold, public manner. However, they could show themselves at Jerusalem at any time, as He further explained in the next verse.

"The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil" - Jesus' half-brothers were not actively trying to bring the world into harmony with God's will. Thus, the world didn't hate them because they were of the world, and the world cannot hate itself. The world hates those who are not of it; those who rebuke its sins and oppose its wicked ways (cf. John 15:18-25; II Tim. 3:12; Matt. 5:10-12).

"I am not yet going up to this feast" - The word "yet" seems to belong in the text (cf. 7:14) although some manuscripts do not contain it. If it doesn't belong then the meaning must be this: Jesus would not go up to Jerusalem in the sense in which His brothers had instructed Him to--that is, to publicly manifest Himself. Jesus did go to the feast a little later, but not with His family.