Chapter 29—Feast of Tabernacles
Three times a year, all the Jews were required to assemble for
religious purposes at Jerusalem. Jesus had not attended several of
these gatherings because of the enmity of the Jews. When he declared
in the synagogue that he was the bread of life, many of those who had
followed him apostatized and united with the Pharisees to watch him
and spy upon his movements in the hope of finding cause to condemn
him to death.
The sons of Joseph, who passed as brothers of Jesus, were very
much affected by this desertion of so many of his disciples, and, as
the time approached for the Feast of Tabernacles, they urged Jesus to
go up to Jerusalem, and, if he was indeed the Messiah, to present his
claims before the rulers, and enforce his rights.
Jesus replied to them with solemn dignity: “My time is not yet
come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but
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me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Go
ye up unto this feast; I go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is
not yet full come.” The world loved those who were like itself; but
the contrast between Christ and the world was most marked; there
could be no harmony between them. His teachings, and his reproofs of
sin, stirred up its hatred against him. The Saviour knew what awaited
him at Jerusalem, he knew that the malice of the Jews would soon
bring about his death, and it was not his place to hasten that event by
prematurely exposing himself to their unscrupulous hatred. He was to
patiently await his appointed time.
At the commencement of the Feast of Tabernacles, the absence
of Jesus was commented upon. The Pharisees and rulers anxiously
looked for him to come, hoping that they might have an opportunity
to condemn him on account of something he might say or do. They
anxiously inquired, “Where is he?” but no one knew. Presently a dise
rose among the people in regard to Jesus, many nobly defending him
as one sent of God, while others bitterly accused him as a deceiver of
the people.
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