Grains of Sand

Google Images The honeymoon, if there ever was one, is over. In John 6 we learn that many of those who had been following Jesus, began to move away from him (John 6:66). The miracles couldn’t hold them and His teaching had become too demanding and too offensive. As we begin John 7, we discover that even in His own family Jesus had little credibility. It appears that his brothers (Mary and Joseph had had children after Jesus’ birth) thought that all this “campaigning” that Jesus did was simply a craving for notoriety. As the date for the Feast of Tabernacles approached, when huge crowds would gather in Jerusalem, his brothers encouraged Him to go. “ Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world’ ” (John 7:3, 4). We might think that they simply wanted to enhance His ministry by broadening i...