John 7:6
“Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jesus tells his brothers that his time has not yet arrived, but theirs is always available.
Context
This is Jesus' gentle refusal of his brothers' worldly counsel. He speaks of kairos (the appointed time) rather than chronos (mere passage of time). There is a divine schedule at work.
What Does John 7:6 Mean?
There is a distinction here between 'my time' and 'your time' that echoes throughout John's Gospel. Jesus lives according to a timeline set by the Father, a kairos moment that has not yet fully come. His brothers live in the realm of mere circumstance and convenience, where any time is as good as another. They can depart when they choose, following the logic of ambition and advantage. But Jesus answers to a different clock.
His response is not harsh but clarifying. He does not reject the journey to Jerusalem but its timing and motivation. He will indeed go up to the feast, but secretly, in his own time, for his own redemptive purpose. This 'my time' language points forward to chapters 12 and 13, where his hour finally comes, the hour of glorification through death. In the meantime, he is not bound by the world's urgency or his family's expectations.
In the Original Language
kairos (Greek), 'time' -- the appointed moment, the right season, the fullness of time when God acts.
Application
We live in a world that constantly urges us to act on its schedule. Jesus invites us to trust a divine timing that may be hidden from us, moving at a pace and toward an end we do not yet fully comprehend.