Fear of Openness

Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews. (John 7:13)

I am seeing some patterns in this passage that I want to explore a little more. Previously in this chapter it talks about Jesus refusing to go up to the feast with His brothers, partly at least because it says that the Jews in the region of Judea were seeking to kill Jesus. He had gone to work in Galilee for awhile ostensibly to let things cool off in Judea before He returned there – or so it might seem on the surface. His brothers were found urging Him to go back into the region where His life was being threatened because, according to the passage, they did not believe in Him at that point.

Now here in the above verse it speaks of the crowds at the feast in Jerusalem (which was in Judea) who were so intimidated by the hatred and threats of the Jewish leaders against Jesus that most people were afraid to even speak of Him openly for fear of coming under some of the same censure and effects of that anger. So it might be assumed that the reason Jesus had chosen to operate more secretly was also because of fear of the leaders.

But upon reflection it doesn't make much sense to draw those conclusions. Jesus did not derive His sense of safety, value or identity from any human being. Nicodemus pointed that out in chapter three and before that near the end of chapter two it mentions that Jesus did not trust Himself to anyone. But just because He didn't confide to anyone in that level of trust does not mean that He was ever motivated by fear or intimidation. These are tools that the enemy uses to manipulate and control most of us, but Jesus never fell for the schemes of the enemy and did not make any of His choices based on fear or threats from others.

So why did Jesus appear to act in ways that could easily be interpreted as being afraid of the Jews? And if He was not afraid and not acting in secret based on those motives like the others who are mentioned in this verse, then what were the motives He had for doing what He did? And how might I learn from this how to better respond when I am faced with similar situations designed to intimidate and control me through means of fear?

Controlling people through fear of violence, shame, or attacking their reputation is how the enemy and many of us choose to live too much of our lives. As a result we have also come to believe that God treats us pretty much the same way. Religion has taught us that God uses the carrot and stick approach; that on the one hand He invites us into a loving relationship with Him while on the other He holds out threats of extreme punishments or even torture if we slight His advances toward us. If we reject His kindness and mercy we are told that He will eventually throw us into painful burning fire to torture us for failing to embrace His love for us and the salvation He has provided.

But these are bald-faced lies about God that have been passed down through many generations but still have no validity whatsoever. And Jesus never gave countenance to such notions about God but instead came to this earth to reveal the truth of how God really feels about us by the way He related to sinners in person. So for Jesus to hide in Galilee out of fear of being killed by the Jews is inconsistent with the very character and attitudes that Jesus demonstrated throughout His life. Jesus was not afraid of death or He would never have come to this earth to start with. Something else was going on here.

In contrast to these people at the feast who were still under the slavery of fear and could easily be controlled, intimidated and manipulated by abusive leaders, Jesus was free of all such fears completely. He did not go to Galilee in order to hide out there until He felt safe enough to return, He went there for the same reason He went anywhere – because the Spirit led Him there and it was the will of His Father.

To allow fear to control His decisions would have been to cave into the temptations of Satan in His life. Jesus never lived in fear of anything because He stayed in such tight connection with His Father and maintained His constant awareness of the Spirit's guidance in His life. It was His Father who impressed Him to keep a low profile in Galilee for a time, not because of fear of the Jews like these other people were doing, but because it was not yet time for Jesus to be killed. Certain things needed yet to develop and mature and take place before the time would be ripe for Jesus to be offered up as the ultimate sacrifice for sin on Calvary. Because it was not yet time, Jesus was sent to Galilee by the Spirit to work there more while circumstances were developing for the final showdown in Jerusalem sometime later.

But another compelling conviction comes from what I see in this verse. How many times do I find myself so intimidated and influenced by fear of what others may think or do to me that I allow that pressure to keep me silent about Jesus? It says in this verse that no one was willing to be open about Him because of the pervasive fear that surrounded the reputation of Jesus. How often I sense that my own fears of what others think creates shame inside of me that prevents me from speaking openly about Jesus at times. I feel awkward, I feel inhibited, I begin to hear all sorts of rationalizations springing up in my head as to why I should probably wait for a more opportune time to speak out in favor of God. But am I any different than these people in Jesus' day who were too afraid to be identified with Him when His popularity was on the low end?

Who am I allowing to dictate what I am willing to express? I am all too aware of how much I have this problem myself and I want to be free of these fears as soon as possible. I want my life to be led by the Spirit like Jesus was rather than allowing fears of other people's threats or shame associated with God's reputation to govern my choices and actions and words. I want to even be willing to be misunderstood if necessary to obediently follow God's directions, even if my motives may appear to others to be different than what they should be. I want to live my life in response to God's directions and will rather than reacting to what is popular or unpopular at the moment.