The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers

1After this, Jesus traveleda throughout Galilee, because he didn’t want to travelb in Judea, since the Jewish leadersc there were trying to kill him. 2Now the Jewish Festival of Tentsd was approaching. 3So his brothers told him, “You should leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples can see the actions that you’re doing, 4since no one acts in secret if he wants to be known publicly. If you’re going to do these things, you should reveal yourself to the world!” 5Not even his brothers believed in him.

6Jesus told them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.e 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its actions are evil. 8Go up to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival yet,f because my time hasn’t fully come yet.” 9After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem

10But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he went up himself, not openly but, as it were,g in secret. 11The Jewish leadersh kept looking for him at the festival, asking, “Where is that man?” 12And there was a great deal of discussion about him among the crowds.i Some were saying, “He is a good man,” while others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowds!” 13Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.j

Jesus Openly Declares His Authority

14Halfway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began teaching. 15The Jewish leadersk were astonished and remarked, “How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?”

16Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the one who sent me. 17If anyone wants to do his will, he’ll know whether this teaching is from God or whether I’m speaking on my own. 18The one who speaks on his own seeks his own praise. But the one who seeks the praise of him who sent him is genuine, and there’s nothing false in him. 19Moses gave you the Law, didn’t he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

20The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”

21Jesus answered them, “I performed one action, and all of you are astonished. 22Moses gave you circumcision—not that it is from Moses, but from the Patriarchs—and so you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man perfectly well on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment!”

Is This the Messiah?

25Then some of the people of Jerusalem began saying, “This is the man they are trying to kill, isn’t it? 26And look, he is speaking in public, and they are not saying anything to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?l 27We know where this man comes from. But when the Messiahm comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

28At this point Jesus, still teaching in the Temple, shouted, “So you know me and know where I’ve come from? I haven’t come on my own accord. But the one who sent me is true, and he’s the one you don’t know. 29I know him because I’ve come from him, and he sent me.”

30Then the Jewish leadersn tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. 31However, many in the crowd believed in him. They kept saying, “When the Messiaho comes, he won’t do more signs than this man has done, will he?”

Officers are Sent to Arrest Jesus

32The Pharisees heard the crowd debating these things about him, so the high priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest Jesus.p

33Then Jesus said, “I’ll be with you only a little while longer, and then I’m going back to the one who sent me. 34You’ll look for me but won’t find me.q And where I am, you cannot come.”

35Then the Jewish leadersr asked one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we won’t be able to find him? Surely he’s not going to the Dispersions among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? 36What does this statement mean that he said, ‘You’ll look for me but won’t find me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

37On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to met and drink! 38The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.” 39Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who were believing in him were to receive, because the Spiritu was not yet presentv and Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Division among the People

40When they heard these words, some in the crowd were saying, “This really is the Prophet,” 41while others were saying, “This is the Messiah!”w

But some were saying, “The Messiahx doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiahy is from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 43So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of the Authorities

45Then the officers returned to the high priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

46The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like that!”

47Then the Pharisees replied to them, “You haven’t been deceived, too, have you? 48None of the authorities or Pharisees has believed in him, have they? 49But this mob that does not know the Law—they’re under a curse!”

50One of their own, Nicodemus (the man who had previously met with Jesus),z asked them, 51“Surely our Law does not condemnaa a person without first hearing from him and finding out what he is doing, does it?”

52They answered him, “You aren’t from Galilee, too, are you? Search and see that no prophet comes from Galilee.” 53Then all of them went to their own homes.