1After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. 3His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. 4For no one does anything in secret while he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” 5For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.”
9Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. 10But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?” 12There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “Not so, but he leads the multitude astray.” 13Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. 14But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?”
16Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God or if I am speaking from myself. 18He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
20The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
21Jesus answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. 22Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
25Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? 27However, we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
30They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?” 32The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. 34You will seek me and won’t find me. You can’t come where I am.”
35The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me;’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”
37Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
40Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” 41Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? 42Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43So a division arose in the multitude because of him. 44Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. 45The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
46The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
47The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? 48Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? 49But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is cursed.”
50Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, 51“Does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
52They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
53Everyone went to his own house,
Believe and Be Blessed
Portrait of a Man in a Suit
Have you ever heard someone described as a “doubting Thomas?” That’s referring to the disciple we’ve just read about in the passage above. So I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like a doubting Thomas yourself? All of us have probably been a doubting Thomas at one time or another. When I was about 15 years old, I went through a time of wondering if any of this business about my Christian faith was real or not. I think I actually fell on the side of being a doubting Thomas. At the time, I attended an Episcopal School that had a chapel service every morning at 8:10 am. That semester (I believe the fall of 1971), I began arriving at school an hour early every day as I was catching a ride with a neighbor who was a nurse. She had to be at work very early, so she would drop me off at school (with her own children) about 7:30. I decided to go into the chapel and sit there and pray. I did this every day for about three months. In those conversations, I told God that I wanted to believe that He existed, but I wanted Him to show me that He was real. I was a doubting Thomas.
I don't remember exactly when it happened, but it seems to have been in late winter or early spring of 1972 (the photo above is me in my school uniform about that time). The headmaster, Mr. Walters, got up to officiate at the morning prayer service. As the service started one morning, I heard Mr. Walters read the "Shemah Yisrael" as quoted by Jesus. I had heard it read a thousand times, but that morning IT READ ME. He said in a loud, clear voice, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is One God, and Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (See Matthew 22:37-40).
I am not sure what happened, except that in one split moment, God revealed to me that I pretty much loved only myself. I realized that I didn’t love God at all. I did not love others that much either. I realized that I just loved myself. I was filled with something between dismay and conviction, and I asked God to forgive me for this and change me. I began to weep, so I got up, left from the front where I had been sitting with my classmates, and made my way into a hallway to regain my composure. I felt God was real and He was speaking to me. I asked for forgiveness and asked Him to change my life. I have never been the same since that day. This account shows us that we, too, sometimes have doubts. With God’s help, we can overcome those, and when we do, we are blessed. You and I can be among those who have not seen, and yet we believe. Bring your doubts to God. He is waiting. He is listening. Believe, and you will be blessed!