John Calvin Commentary John 7

Jesus walked in Galilee. The Evangelist appears not to pursue a continuous narrative, but to select from what occurred at different times those events that were worthy of being related. He says that Christ stayed for a time in Galilee, because He could not remain safely anywhere among the Jews. If anyone thinks it strange that Christ sought a place of concealment, who, by the mere act of His will, could break and render powerless all the efforts of His enemies, it is easy to reply that He remembered the commission He had received from the Father and determined to confine Himself within the limits which belonged to Him as man; for,

having taken upon Him the form of a servant,
He emptied Himself, till the Father exalted Him
(Philippians 2:6–8).

If it is objected that, as He knew the time of His death, which had been foreordained and determined in the purpose of God, He had no reason for avoiding it, the former solution applies here also; for He conducted Himself as a man who was liable to dangers, and therefore, it was not proper that He should throw Himself at random into dangerous situations.

In encountering dangers, it is not our business to inquire what God has determined respecting us in His decree, but what He commands and enjoins on us, what our office requires and demands, and what is the proper method of regulating our life. Besides, while Christ avoided dangers, He did not turn aside a hairsbreadth from the course of duty; for to what purpose would life be maintained and defended, if not that we may serve the Lord?

We ought always to take care, therefore, that we do not, for the sake of life, lose the reasons for living. When a small and despised corner of Galilee grants a lodging to Christ, whom Judea cannot endure, we learn from it that piety and the fear of God are not always to be found in the chief places of the Church.

Now a feast of the Jews was at hand. Though I do not affirm it, it is probable that this happened during the second year after Christ’s baptism.

Concerning this feast, which the Evangelist mentions, it is not necessary at present to say much. For what purpose and use it was commanded, Moses shows (Leviticus 23:34). It was so that by this annual ceremony the Jews might recall that their fathers lived forty years in tabernacles, when they had no houses, and that they might thus celebrate the grace of God displayed in their deliverance.

We have previously said that there were two reasons why Christ came to Jerusalem during this feast. One reason was that, being subject to the Law in order to redeem us all from its bondage, he wished not to omit any part of its observance. The other reason was that, amidst a numerous and extraordinary gathering of people, he had a better opportunity to advance the Gospel.

But now the Evangelist relates that Christ kept himself in retirement in Galilee, as if he did not intend to come to Jerusalem.

His brethren therefore said to him. Under the word brethren the Hebrews include all cousins and other relations, whatever may be the degree of affinity. He says that they mocked Christ, because he avoided being seen or known, and concealed himself in a humble and despised district of Judea.

There is reason to doubt, however, if they were motivated by ambition to desire that Christ should gain recognition. But assuming this, it is still evident that they ridicule him, because they do not think that his conduct is rational and judicious. They even accuse him of folly, because, while he wants to be important, he lacks confidence in himself and does not dare to appear openly before men.

When they say, that thy disciples also may see, they mean not only his household members, but all those whom he wished to gain from the whole nation; for they add, “You wish to be known by all, and yet you conceal yourself.”

If you do these things; that is, if you aspire to such greatness that all may applaud you, direct towards you the eyes of all. And they add, show yourself to the world, using the word world, as contrasted with the small number of persons among whom he was spending his time without honor.

We might also draw from it another meaning. “If you do these things, that is, since you are endowed with such great power as to procure reputation for yourself by miracles, do not throw them away; for all that has been given to you by God you spend here to no purpose, because there are none to bear you testimony, or to hold you in just estimation.”

Hence we perceive how great is the indolence of men in considering the works of God; for the relations of Christ would never have spoken in this manner, if they had not — as it were — trampled under foot the manifest proofs of his Divine power, which they ought to have beheld with the greatest admiration and reverence.

What we are told here concerning Christ happens in daily experience: that the children of God suffer greater annoyance from their near relations than from strangers. For they are instruments of Satan who tempt, sometimes to ambition and sometimes to avarice, those who desire to serve God purely and faithfully. But such Satans receive a vigorous repulse from Christ, who thus instructs us by his example, that we ought not to yield to the foolish wishes of brethren or relations.

For even his brethren did not believe in him. From this we infer how small is the value of carnal relationship; for the Holy Spirit stamps with a perpetual mark of infamy the relatives of Christ, because, though convinced by the testimonies of so many works, they did not even then believe.

Therefore, whoever wishes to be considered to be in Christ, as Paul says, let him be a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15); for those who dedicate themselves wholly to God obtain the place of father, mother, and brothers to Christ, and all others he utterly disavows (Matthew 12:50).

So much the more ridiculous is the superstition of Papists, who, disregarding everything else in the Virgin Mary, extol her only on the ground of relationship, bestowing on her the title of the Mother of Christ, as if Christ himself had not reproved the woman who exclaimed from the midst of the crowd, Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that suckled thee; for Christ replied, Nay, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, (Luke 11:27, 28).