John 7:1-13

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ (For not even his brothers believed in him.) Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

Did you notice the ‘lectionary jump’ as we shifted from John chapter five to John chapter seven? Don’t worry, we will find our way back in about a week so we can fill in the gaps.

Meanwhile, let’s go on a journey back into time as Jesus faces a significant challenge. People were conspiring to take his life. They were working hard to get him to make decisions that would provide an excuse for him to be eliminated from the scene.

But Jesus says, “The right time for me has not yet come.” He means that the ‘Kairos’ moment is not yet at hand. Kairos represents the perfect timing of God. It is the time when all good things are in alignment. For you, a Kairos moment may have happened when you met your spouse or when you gave your life to Christ. For Jesus, it represented the fulfillment of his journey on earth. The time was not correct. There would be a right time in the near future but this was not the moment.

It is Saturday, and perhaps we can take a bit more time to reflect. What would be the two or three Kairos moments that have occurred in your life? Have you experienced those moments when God was present and your life was in alignment with the love of Christ? Take a minute to reflect, then ask yourself, what difference has it made in my life of service, generosity, and dedication to God?