“Is he not the one they are trying to kill?” (John 7:25). This is what the people of Jerusalem say of Jesus when He goes up to the Holy City for the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths, was one of three festivals for which pilgrimage to Jerusalem was required. Since many were looking for an opportunity to kill Him, Jesus makes the pilgrimage secretly (John 7:10). When He enters Jerusalem, He must confront the skepticism and the sinister murmuring of many.
The hour of Jesus’ Passion approaches. Can we imagine a situation where we entered knowing the people present intended to do us harm? This is the predicament to which Jesus willingly submits, because it is the Father’s Will. “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent me” (John 7:29). So, He goes up to Jerusalem to fulfill an obligation in the law (cf. Deuteronomy 16:16) but witnesses to the fulfillment of a greater purpose. He must redeem.
How the rejection, the lack of understanding, the hatred, and the suspicion must have grieved the heart of Jesus! How our sins must sadden Him as well, for when we reject the Will of God and act in opposition to that Divine Will, we join the crowd in rejecting Him. In the words of Bossuet: “Understand, Christian, how hard it is to go up to the Cross with Jesus and how great is our need for his grace.”