But why?
Obviously Jesus knew that He would go, so why did He tell His brothers to go on and observe the Feast of Tabernacles without Him. I think there are 2 possible answers: first, His brothers had not fully bought in. Verse 5 says that “even His brothers did not believe”. Perhaps their disbelief in some way would hamper Jesus' mission.
The second possible explanation has to do with timing: Jesus' time had not yet come. Twice in Chapter 7 He says "My time is not fully come". Perhaps Jesus didn't want to show up to the Jewish Feast, which incidentally it seems that He was pretty determined to fulfill, with a band of brothers. Doing so might draw attention to Himself. And why would that have been such a bad thing? What if in doing so He was killed in the mob, thus failing to fulfill His mission and purpose on earth? The entire plan of God's restoration and salvation for man hung in the balance and would be thwarted.
But what does this have to do with finances you might ask? The answer lies in the "timing" message. If you have read my book 12 Pillars & a Prayer you might remember that God's plan and purpose is to make stewards out of each of us. That means that prosperity and wealth and money are found within the context of being a steward, i.e., a conservator of God's provisions. Such conservatorship is rarely bestowed upon the novice and when it is that novice is even more rarely up to the challenge. No, stewardship carries with it the conation of a battle tested warrior who has learned the tactics of conquering an enemy. In the case of finances, that enemy is usually from within. I think that the hardest thing to tame in life is your spirit when you know that God has something for you, you see the need, but your time is not yet come. Your job is to lay low and let time have its perfect appearance.
As business owners, entreprenuers and those who simply desire to be financially sound and prosperous, we often want it now. We want the booming business, lots of cash flow and balanced bank statements...now! And when we don't get it now the tendency is become discouraged and retreat into old habits. Things like not making the extra call, bouncing a check, not writing on your book today and even worse, starting to doubt that God really desires to see His people do well in this world.
You see the real message of this story is this: calling and purpose are great and necessary for us to succeed in this world, but they are not enough. Timing is everything! You may be on a real mission to build your business, but if you're out of time, I promise you, your desired results will be for another day.
- Rush out there to open your restaurant without training your servers and chances are you'll be out of business real soon.
- Talk to someone about purchasing your product and they just lost their job and your chances of closing the deal diminish greatly.
- Tell somebody about this dynamite business opportunity and they just got burnt in their last one and chances are you're going home empty.
- 4,000 books were just released on How to grow your garden and you might rethink if this is the right time to hit the market with another one.
You get the point? . Just as the Master Teacher was not sucked into the moment you might need to go to the feast incognito for the time being. His time had not yet come, He knew it and He was willing to pass on the moment in order to get to the maximum payoff. Had Jesus acted solely on His calling it would have cost Him his life prematurely and the entire plan of salvation would have been derailed. The lesson here is that calling is not enough. You must also discern the time.
The point of the story can be expressed in a mathematical equation:
Calling + timing = Tremendous payoff and harvest.
Our job is to know both our calling and the times. In such is great prosperity of body, soul and spirit! Until we talk again, may you prosper and be in good health!
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