Did Jesus lie?

[wking]

I was reading in John 7:8 today where Jesus’ brothers tell him to go to the festival in Jerusalem and he tells them he is not going. Two verses later (John 7:10) it says Jesus went to the festival secretly.

How do we deal with this from the perspective of lying? I suppose you could say Jesus changed his mind, but that seems odd, especially when it says he went up secretly, as if he’d been planning that all along.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

When puzzled by particular verses, it is important to try to step back and see them within the context of the story as a whole. In this case, the entire incident is related in John 7, with the particular context for your question being in John 7:1-18.

When chapter seven opens, Jesus is concerned because the Jews in Judea were seeking to kill him (v. 1), but the time was not yet at hand to allow it (v. 8). His brothers urged him to go anyway (v. 3) because they want him to become a celebrity (v. 4). Jesus is uninterested in promoting himself; his sole purpose is to do his Father’s will (v. 16-18).

With this as background, we can more clearly see that Jesus’ refusal to go up to Judea with his brothers was a refusal to promote himself, as they thought he should do. If that is what interested them, then they could go by themselves while he would avoid – for now – those who were seeking to kill him (v. 6-8). Given Jesus’ emphasis in the chapter on doing the Father’s will, we can only assume that he eventually went to the feast because it was his Father’s will that he do so.

Recommended reading:

Is it always a sin to lie?