“22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name testify to Me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 What My Father has given Me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
31 The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’— and the scripture cannot be annulled — 36 can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.” 39 Then they tried to arrest Him again, but He escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and He remained there. 41 Many came to Him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in Him there” John 10:22-42.
Jesus is in the temple at the time of the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah, which occurs around Christmas time. It is a feast that celebrates the dedication of an altar and the reconstruction of the temple during the Maccabees after several years of desecration by Syrian rulers in 164 BC.
You can see that Jesus is continuing His teaching about Himself as the long-awaited Messiah who is the Good Shepherd leading His sheep who hear His voice and follow Him to eternal life. The question the Pharisees ask Jesus is the question asked of Jesus throughout John’s Gospel and all of the Synoptic Gospels: “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly”
John 10:24.
Notice that Jesus does not answer that question in the same way asked by unbelievers as He does believers. Jesus tells the unbelievers: “I have told you, and you do not believe” John 10:25. Then Jesus speaks about the witness of His works that His faithful sheep understand: “The works that I do in My Father’s name testify to Me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 What My Father has given Me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one”
John 10:25-30. Those who hear the voice of Jesus in His works — and believe — follow Jesus who knows them, and Jesus gives them eternal life and they will never perish. To unbelievers Jesus simply says that it doesn’t matter if He is the Messiah because they will not believe in Him.
This teaching of Jesus is tied into His pervious teaching about the Good Shepherd. No one will ever snatch His sheep from His hands or from His Father’s. “No one will snatch (the sheep) out of My hand. 29 What My Father has given Me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one” John 10:28-30. The Son and the Father are one and share the same power. As Jesus clearly said earlier: “35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands” John 3:35.
So Jesus’ claim to be equally with God causes the Jews to attempt to kill Him for blasphemy. But Jesus uses an old argument that relies on a play on the same word. He says that the judges of the Old Testament were called gods because the word of God came to them. (For example in 1 Samuel 15:10 “10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel.”) So, Jesus asks, why do you Jews object if the term God is applied to the Word-made-flesh? Notice too that Jesus says: "The one whom the Father has sanctified (He) sent into the world” John 10:36, using the same word “sanctified” that the Jews use of the temple, further pushing the unbelieving Pharisees to consider honestly why they are trying to stone Jesus to death because of their interpretation of specific words. They are simply not believing in Jesus, and this is what He is pushing them to admit to themselves at the very least. Jesus points out that on this feast of Temple-altar dedication and consecration Jesus now replaces the theme of this feast as the One who should be consecrated or sanctified!
But as we have seen Jesus say time and time again, we are to judge His claims to be the son of God based on the witness of His works, for the works of Jesus flow from the Father in Jesus and Jesus in the Father. Jesus says: “37 If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father” John 10:37-38. But the sheep of the House of Israel still refuse to hear and believe in the voice of the Shepherd. So Jesus leaves their land, crosses the Jordan, and returns to the land where John the Baptist was witnessing and the people were believing in him.
Oh dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. Please allow me to hear Your voice and to believe in You and follow You all the days of my life. In Your holy name I pray, Jesus, Amen.
From the Bible:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” John 10:27.
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” Romans 10:17.
"Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” Jeremiah 33:3.
“Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” John 8:47.
“But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” Luke 11:28!
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” John 16:13.
Comments