{"id":5914,"date":"2014-10-15T00:05:42","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T07:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=5914"},"modified":"2014-10-14T09:03:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T16:03:01","slug":"strategy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/10\/15\/strategy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em>Jesus decided to leave Judea and to start going through Galilee because the leaders of the people wanted to kill him. It was almost time for the Festival of Shelters, and Jesus\u2019 brothers said to him, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go to Judea? Then your disciples can see what you are doing. No one does anything in secret, if they want others to know about them. So let the world know what you are doing!\u201d Even Jesus\u2019 own brothers had not yet become his followers.<\/p>\n<p>\tJesus answered, \u201cMy time hasn\u2019t yet come, but your time is always here. The people of this world cannot hate you. They hate me, because I tell them that they do evil things. Go on to the festival. My time hasn\u2019t yet come, and I am not going.\u201d Jesus said this and stayed on in Galilee.<\/p>\n<p>\tAfter Jesus\u2019 brothers had gone to the festival, he went secretly, without telling anyone.<\/p>\n<p>\tDuring the festival the leaders looked for Jesus and asked, \u201cWhere is he?\u201d The crowds even got into an argument about him. Some were saying, \u201cJesus is a good man,\u201d while others were saying, \u201cHe is lying to everyone.\u201d But the people were afraid of their leaders, and none of them talked in public about him.<\/p>\n<p>\tWhen the festival was about half over, Jesus went into the temple and started teaching. The leaders were surprised and said, \u201cHow does this man know so much? He has never been taught!\u201d John 7:1\u201315<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\tWas Jesus a liar?  His brothers, who didn\u2019t believe he was the Messiah, told him that if he wanted to become public figure, he had to appear in public. So why not come to the Festival of Shelters (also called Succot)?  Jesus told them it wasn\u2019t his time, but then snuck there without telling anyone.  <\/p>\n<p>\tWhen a quarterback misleads the opposing team, has he lied?  When the general misleads the enemy, has he lied?  When the undercover police officer keeps his cover, has he lied?  No,  we\u2019d say they were all doing their jobs. Jesus\u2019 behavior must be seen in that light.  Jesus\u2019 brothers did not yet believe.  That means they were still playing for the other side.<\/p>\n<p>\tJesus had a specific plan in mind for the Feast, a plan that did not involve his brothers or their expectations.  By misleading his brothers, he ensured the successful outcome of God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n<p>\tJesus\u2019 critics, like the Pharisees, were always quick to find fault with his behavior, behavior that often seemed at odds with God\u2019s law.  We must be careful not to start thinking like the Pharisees.  And we have to be willing to understand that sometimes we don\u2019t know all the answers.<\/p>\n<div class='kindleWidget kindleLight' ><img src=\"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/plugins\/send-to-kindle\/media\/white-15.png\" \/><span>Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus decided to leave Judea and to start going through Galilee because the leaders of the people wanted to kill him. It was almost time for the Festival of Shelters, and Jesus\u2019 brothers said to him, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/10\/15\/strategy-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5914"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5916,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914\/revisions\/5916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}