John 7:1
” After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.”
Did you ever have one of those days when people were looking for ways to kill you? No? How about beat you up?
When I was about eleven years old my family moved to a small town with a rather rough pedigree. Academics were not prized there, but toughness was. Sometimes people would pick a fight for no reason at all. Stories about kids getting beat up or seriously hurt were not uncommon, and there were certain places one didn’t go if they didn’t want to risk a confrontation with someone who was just looking for a fight.
Even so, there is a big difference between being the object of a bully’s unwanted attention, and having people seriously plotting to kill you. I’ve never had that problem, but Jesus did. The Jewish leaders had lost it. They had gone around the bend and were not coming back. Their fear of losing credibility with the common man was also a fear of losing prestige and income. They were afraid of losing everything that didn’t really matter, and it was driving them nuts. The madness flipped them from being the “Good Guys” to the point where they sank to become the essence of everything they preached against. They had donned the black hats and become the “Bad Guys.”
Q: Clearly Jesus wasn’t afraid of the Jewish leaders, yet he chose to stay away from them. Why?
God’s timing. He had to wait until Passover to be the Passover lamb.
Twas not yet his time.
I agree. It was not His time and God’s time is always best. That is a hard thing to put into practice in our personal lives though… To wait and God and trust in His timing.