7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if He seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers believed in Him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, He remained in Galilee. 10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much muttering about Him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, He is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of Him. ~ John 7:1-13ESV
Jesus’ brothers thought Jesus should go up to the Feast of Booths and make Himself known to His disciples and the World by performing His miracles in public. Jesus responded that His time had not yet come. I believe Jesus’ brothers were telling Him that if He really is the Messiah, now is the time to fulfill Zechariah’s and Ezekiel’s prophecies. The prophecies that the Messiah, David (David’s Son), would reign as the Eternal God. The Feast of Booths foreshadowed this event, so they’re saying now is the perfect time to fulfill these prophecies, but they didn’t understand that it wasn’t yet time for this to be fulfilled.
See, Jesus still had to fulfill the Suffering Servant prophecy first. To His brothers, it didn’t make sense. If you’re the Messiah, go fulfill the feasts. Go take your rightful place as King of Israel. Go do those things. They didn’t realize that if Jesus had gone down to the Feast of Booths and fulfilled prophecies of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah, we’d all be for all of eternity. We’d never be reconciled to our God. The Suffering Servant, the Passover Lamb- this prophecy had to be fulfilled first in order to give us Salvation. He had to first take away the Sin of the World. To His brothers, they didn’t see it, just like us today.
We don’t always understand why God doesn’t always show up the way we want Him to, but His timing is always good. Always perfect. So, don’t rush God. Don’t try to force God into your timing. Instead, be in tune with Him. Follow His lead, for it is His plan that is perfect and not our own.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stick With His Timing.