“brothers” = the sons of Mary and Joseph.

The brothers of Jesus were challenging Him to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem and perform the wonders there which He had been doing in remote Galilee. Their action implies a belief in the miracle-working power of Jesus coupled with an ignorance of His mission and its method of accomplishment with what that will entail. (See the commentary on the next verse for their reasons.)

His brothers are in effect tempting Jesus in a similar manner to that which the devil tempted Him in the desert. In fact, the temptations of Satan in the wilderness recurred throughout the ministry of Jesus. Notice the following similarities:

1. In John 6:30-31 the Jews ask for miraculous bread much as Satan’s first temptation Luke 4:3.
   John 6:30-31  So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?  Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
   Luke 4:3  The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
2. In John 6:15 the crowd tries to make Him King as did Satan in Luke 4:5-7.
   John 6:15  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
   Luke 4:5-7  The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.  So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
3. In this verse His brothers are tempting Him to go up to Jerusalem and show off His power as Satan tried to get Him to do in Luke 4:9-11.
   Luke 4:9-11  The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.  For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;  they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

In Luke 4:13 we are told that after the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left Him “for a season.” Obviously Satan did not give up in his tempting of Jesus, and he even used some of the same temptations he had originally used against Him. The devil doesn’t give up tempting us, either, even after we have overcome temptation as Jesus did. Instead, he will come back at us later and try the same things as before to try to get us to fall.

Morris sadly observes that “many a man faced with cruel opposition in public life has been sustained by the faith and the faithfulness of his kith and kin. Jesus was denied this solace.” (396-397)