How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly

 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.  And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?"  Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered the, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  I and My Father are one."  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' Because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

- John 10:19-42

In our recent readings, Jesus has been at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem (beginning in chapter 7).   In chapter 9, He healed a man blind from birth, the sixth sign of seven in John's Gospel.  He has been disputing with the leadership afterward (who have also cast the formerly blind man out of the temple).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."  Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.  Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.  I am the door.  If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.  But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.  The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.  As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.  Therefore My Father loves me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This command I have received from My Father."

 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.  And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?"  Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"   These verses are still set at the Feast of Tabernacles, and once again John goes out of his way to let the reader know that there are clear divisions among the people -- and here explicitly among the leadership (which is what the term the Jews indicates) -- concerning Jesus.  My study bible comments that those who respond in faith are not merely impressed by the signs, but perceive the holiness of His words.

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.   The Feast of Dedication took place about three months after the Feast of Tabernacles (7:1-10:21).  It is known as the "Festival of Lights" (as well as Hanukkah).  It is a commemoration of the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the Seleucid King Epiphanes desecrated the temple in 167 BC (see 1 Maccabees 1-4).  At this festival, my study bible notes, the historical leaders of Israel were commemorated, many of whom were themselves shepherds.

Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered the, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me."   But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."    My study bible comments here that both what Christ told them and the works He has done have already answered their questions.  Only the Messiah could open the eyes of one blind from birth (see 9:32, also Isaiah 35:5, 42:7; Psalm 146:7), or perform the various signs that bear witness to Christ's identity and the presence of the Kingdom.  Essentially also, my study bible adds, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people as Christ did (7:46, 9:21).   Jesus' use of the phrase as I said to you indicates that these are the same Pharisees whom He addressed three months earlier at the Feast of Tabernacles (10:1-5).

"I and My Father are one."  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."   My study bible remarks that Jesus responds to their question (above) by revealing Himself to be fully God:  One implies one in nature or essence.  Christ is God before all ages, and remains God after the Incarnation and for eternity.  The plural verb are refers to two distinct Persons, while confirming a continuous unity.  These leaders (Pharisees) to whom He speaks clearly recognize this claim of divinity and therefore accuse Him of blasphemy.

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' Because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."    Regarding the teaching You are gods, Jesus quotes from Psalm 82:6.  My study bible notes that people who receive God's grace in faith will partake of God's divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4), and can rightly therefore be called gods.  This is the nature of grace; it shares its qualities and gifts in which we may participate.  St. Paul writes explicitly of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.  My study bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases, "If those who hate received this honor by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?"

Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  As Christ goes to the Passion voluntarily and in accordance with His own will (10:17-18), His accusers can't arrest Him until it is His hour (7:30; 8:20; see Luke 4:28-30). 


And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.   Again, as in several other places, the Gospel explicitly teaches us about those who were believers in Christ among the people and even among the religious leadership.

Sometimes, no matter how much one goes out of one's way to tell the truth, to express something to someone who demands an explanation, there is nothing one can do to convince another of what seems to be self-evident.  If someone doesn't want to believe something, or has an agenda to the contrary, it is seemingly impossible to convince them otherwise.  Christ's experiences don't just tell us about His own situation and circumstances 2,000 years ago.  The New Testament is not only a story about Christ.  As Christ very deliberately became one of us, so His experiences are stand-ins for all of us; they are universal.  Particularly if one has had experience of truth-telling innocence, among those who do not want to hear and do not want to listen for their own reasons, Christ's repeated emphasis on the truth of His identity rings true.   What is most important and essential to our understanding here is that Christ defers in all of His ministry to the will of God the Father.  These men demand a kind of proof that Jesus hasn't provided, like some spectacular sign designed to convince only them.  Clearly, they don't much want to be convinced!  And there are those among them who are believers as well.  But it's important that we understand Jesus' humility here.  He has respect for the Mosaic Law, and is Himself the fulfillment of Jewish spiritual history.  He doesn't diminish their offices nor the sacredness of the temple.  But His ultimate loyalty is to God the Father.  What unfolds as Jesus' ministry, and the particular signs that He performs -- and even the words that He says -- comes from God the Father.  If Christ is not given by the Father a direction of force or proof or manipulation by some kind of sign on demand that these men desire, then this is not the way that His ministry will go.  And so it has to be, as well, with you and me.  There may be those in our lives who accuse us of something we haven't done, some character flaw they desire to see for their own reasons and motivations.  But to seek to offer proof to the contrary may be a seemingly impossible task -- and must always be done in accordance with our faith.  Christ has ways for us to walk through this world.  Humility will demand of us a particular way to be one of His flock.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus called Himself the Door (10:1, 7).  In Matthew's Gospel, He teaches, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).  This indicates to us that there is a particular way we are to walk through our lives.  Every juncture may have a myriad of possibilities to it in which we may respond to a crisis or difficulty, or even to the demands of others, as in Jesus' case.  Certainly, the Passion will be a shocking conclusion to His ministry for many people.  While God holds possibilities for us we may not have considered in our limited imaginations, there will also be specific ways in which we are called to respond to a situation.  In both the case of a response which demands more than we know from our own worldly experience and expectation, and also the response that is asked of us as our "narrow way," we turn in prayer to find our way through difficult circumstances.  Christ responds as the Father gives Him response, and we must also seek to meet the demands of those who place burdens of proof upon us with the testimony given to us by faith.  Can one prove character easily to those who don't really want to know?  Like many faithful who've gone before us, we might find ourselves in difficult circumstances, in which the most innocent of motivations is painted with awful assumptions.  But Christ and so many others have already gone there before us.  Like the example we have, we don't seek to respond to others with any and all proofs they demand, we don't simply honor manipulation and bad intent.  Rather, we need to remember our humility first before God, and find the narrow way for us that Christ asks of us, in faith and in endurance, with the patience asked of us that will stretch who we are.  He sets the example, and we follow.  Let us be the intelligent sheep who know His voice and find His way.