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Unbelieving Brothers

¹ Jesus later traveled throughout the land of Galilee. He stayed out of Judea because the Jews wanted to string him up. ² Then the time came for the Jewish Festival of Tents, and ³ Jesus's brothers poked fun at him saying, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea. Your cowboys need to see what you can really do. ⁴ If you want people to follow you, you can't hide out in the country where no one can see your great power. Since you are so powerful, go show yourself to the world." ⁵ Obviously his brothers didn't even believe in who he was at this time.

⁶ Jesus replied, "My time to go to Judea isn't right now, but you can leave if you want to. ⁷ This world won't turn against you, but it has already turned against me because I tell it like it is—this world is full of evil people. ⁸ So, y'all go ahead and go to the festival, but I won't go before my time." ⁹ When he was done, he rode off to another ranch in the Galilee area.

Jesus Preaches at the Temple

¹⁰ After his brothers had left for Jerusalem, Jesus headed there at a long trot, too. But he went in secret. ¹¹ At the festival the Jewish leaders were all asking where Jesus was, but no one had seen him. ¹² There were a lot of rumors flying around about him. Some people said he was a good man and others called him a fraud. ¹³ The only thing not said in public was anything in support of him. Everyone was afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders who opposed him.

¹⁴ About halfway through the festival, Jesus stood up in the main church and began to preach. ¹⁵ The people listening marveled at his knowledge and wondered where he came by such wisdom without having attended seminary.

¹⁶ Jesus knew their questions and said, "My teaching does not come from me. It comes from God who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who rides for God will be able to tell if my teaching is from him or it is merely my own. ¹⁸ Those who speak on their own are after personal glory, but the cowboy who seeks glory only for God is a man of truth. There will be nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Moses gave y'all the Law. There are a lot of teachers and preachers of the Law, but not one of you obeys it. Not only that, but you are trying to kill me."

²⁰ This riled everyone up, and people started yelling, "A demon has you hog-tied! Who is trying to kill you?"

²¹ Jesus said, "I showed y'all one miracle, and you were astonished. ²² But I'm not the only one who did work on the day of rest. Y'all do too when you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. (Actually, circumcision came from our ancestors and not Moses.) ²³ You say that you circumcise on the Sabbath so that the child will follow the teachings of Moses, but then you get mad at me for healing a man's whole body on the same day. You cut off a piece of man on the Sabbath and call it holy, but I make them whole, and you call me possessed. ²⁴ If you're going to judge correctly, you've got to do it with more than what you see on the surface."

A Split in the Herd

²⁵ Some of the people in Jerusalem started wondering, "Isn't this the cowboy they want to kill? ²⁶ He's standing right here, so why aren't they doing something? Maybe it's because he is the Top Hand? ²⁷ But how can that be? We know this cowboy and where he comes from. The Messiah is supposed to show up, but nobody will know where he came from."

²⁸ Jesus was still teaching in the main church while they were talking and he addressed them, "Yeah, you know who I am and where I came from. I didn't come here by myself. I was sent here by the one who is Truth. You don't know him, ²⁹ but I do. And he sent me here to you." ³⁰ At this they tried to arrest him, but he just walked out like nothing had happened.

³¹ Still, there were a lot of cowboys who had been listening and started to believe in him. They said to others, "He's doing everything the Good Book said the Messiah, or God's Top Hand, would do."

³² The religious know-it-alls heard what the crowds were saying and finally sent the church police to arrest Jesus. ³³ When they found him said, "I won't be here for long. Then I'll be going back to where I'm from. ³⁴ You'll think you know where that is, but you don't. And you cannot go where I am headed back to."

³⁵ The Jewish leaders didn't know what to make of his comments. They thought he must be leaving the country or something. ³⁶ They kept wondering what Jesus meant when he said, "You cannot go where I'm headed."

The Well Won't Run Dry

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood in the main church courtyard and shouted to the people, "If you're thirsty, come to me. ³⁸ Just like the Good Book says, 'A fountain of youth will flow from within the cowboy who believes in me.'" ³⁹ Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, who would be given to the believers later on.

Split and Divided

⁴⁰ When people heard this, they were saying, "This must be the cowboy we've heard about and been waiting on." ⁴¹ Others went further and said, "Let's just call it like it is, he is the Messiah, the Christ." But there were still those who argued and said, "I'm sorry, but he just can't be. There is no way our Savior can come from a Podunk place like Galilee. ⁴² The Good Book clearly says that the Savior will be of the royal lineage of David." ⁴³ So the crowd was split and divided about who Jesus really was. ⁴⁴ Many still wanted him arrested, but nobody could lay a hand on him.

⁴⁵ When the church police came back without Jesus, the Pharisees and priests demanded, "Why did you not bring him in!?"

⁴⁶ "We have never in our lives heard someone speak like that," the policemen reported.

⁴⁷ "Have y'all fallen in love with him, too?" the Pharisees said in a mocking tone. ⁴⁸ "Is there a single one of us leaders who have fallen for his lies? Is there even one of us who believes in him? ⁴⁹ The crowds follow him because they are just ignorant farmers, ranchers, and day trash. They are dirty and uneducated, unlike us. They are ignorant of the Law. God will curse them all."

⁵⁰ Then Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had met with Jesus before, spoke up and asked, ⁵¹ "Does our Law convict a man before his side of the story is told?"

⁵² They laughed at him and said, "Are you a Podunk from Galilee, too? Search the Good Book, and you will see that no prophet ever comes from Galilee."

⁵³ Then the meeting was closed, and everyone went home.