ASHAMED OF JESUS
‘No man spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews.’
The seventh chapter is divided from the preceding one by a wide interval of time. The many miracles which our Lord wrought, while he ‘walked in Galilee,’ are passed over by John in comparative silence. The events which he was specially inspired to record, are those which took place in or near Jerusalem. Observe—
I. The desperate hardness and unbelief of human nature.—We are told that even our Lord’s ‘brethren did not believe in Him.’ Holy and harmless and blameless as He was in life, some of His nearest relatives, according to the flesh, did not receive Him as the Messiah. It was bad enough for His own people, ‘the Jews sought to kill Him.’ But it was even worse that ‘His brethren did not believe.’ That great Scriptural doctrine, man’s need of preventing and converting grace, stands out here, as if written with a sunbeam. It becomes all who question that doctrine to look at this passage and consider. Let them observe that seeing Christ’s miracles, hearing Christ’s teaching, living in Christ’s own company, were not enough to make men believers. The mere possession of spiritual privileges never yet made any one a Christian. All is useless without the effectual and applying work of God the Holy Ghost.
II. One principal reason why many hate Christ.—Our Lord said to His unbelieving brethren, ‘The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.’ These words reveal one of those secret principles which influence men in their treatment of religion. They help to explain that deadly enmity with which many during our Lord’s earthly ministry regarded Him and His Gospel. They could have tolerated His opinions if He would only have spared their sins. The principle is one of universal application. It is at work now just as much as it was then. The real cause of many people’s dislike to the Gospel is the holiness of living which it demands. Teach abstract doctrines only, and few will find any fault. Denounce the fashionable sins of the day, and call on men to repent and walk consistently with God, and thousands at once will be offended.
III. The strange variety of opinions about Christ, which were current from the beginning.—‘There was much murmuring among the people concerning Him: for some said, He is a good man; others said, Nay, but He deceiveth the people.’ The words which old Simeon had spoken thirty years before were here accomplished in a striking manner. The endless differences and divisions about religion, which we see on all sides in the present day, ought never to surprise us. The open hatred of some toward Christ; the carping, fault-finding, prejudiced spirit of others; the bold confession of the few faithful ones; the timid, man-fearing temper of the many faithless ones; the unceasing war of words and strife of tongues with which the Churches of Christ are so sadly familiar—are only modern symptoms of an old disease.
IV. What think we of Christ ourselves?—This is the one question with which we have to do. Let us never be ashamed to be of that little number who believe on Him, hear His voice, follow Him, and confess Him before men.
—Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustration
‘Who these “brethren” were is a matter of dispute. Some think, as Alford, Stier, and others, that they were literally our Lord’s own brethren, and the children of Mary by Joseph, born after our Lord’s birth. (See Psalms 69:8.) Some think, as Theophylact and others, that they were the children of Joseph by a former marriage, and brought up by Mary under the same roof with our Lord. Others think, as Augustine, Zwingle, Musculus, and Bengel, that the word “brethren” does not necessarily mean more than cousins or kinsmen. (See 1 Chronicles 23:22.) This is the most probable opinion. We take these “brethren” to have been relatives and kinsmen of Joseph and Mary, living at Nazareth, or Capernaum, or elsewhere in Galilee, who naturally observed all our Lord’s doings with interest and curiosity, but at present did not believe on Him. To suppose, as some do, that these brethren were some of our Lord’s Apostles, is a most improbable theory, and flatly contrary to the fifth verse of this chapter.’