John 7:8-10 He went in secret

7:8,9

“You go up to the feast”. The brothers were part of the world, they were not interested in God’s agenda, so Jesus tells them if they want to go up to the feast then they should go. However, Jesus would not be told what to do by worldly people exercising worldly wisdom. Jesus lived His life according to the Father’s plan, and His “time had not yet fully come”. So he remained in Galilee. Some manuscripts in v8 have “I am not yet going up ...” This yet was probably added because of v10, which at a superficial level seems to contradict v8. The yet does give the meaning of v8, sort of. The key point is that Jesus’ life would not be dictated to by others. He would only obey the Father.

7:10

Jesus did actually go up to the festival, but on His terms, or rather on the Father’s terms. He did not go up in order to do a miracle show, which is what the brothers wanted Him to do, instead He went up in private, not publicly. So Jesus was not dictated to by the suggestion of His brothers, nor was He constrained by not going up to the festival because His brothers had suggested it.