I and My Father are one

 

 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 them, "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."

 

- John 10:19–30 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been at the Feast of Tabernacles.  This is an eight-day autumn festival which commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles."  The chief priests and Pharisees have sought unsuccessfully to have Him arrested, and they have also sought to stone Him and failed.  Since then, He has healed a man blind since birth, and the healing was on a Sabbath.  On Saturday, we read the continuation of Christ's dialogue with the religious leaders.  He said,  "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 leave 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 the 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?"  Once again we recall that most often, the use of the term the Jews in John's Gospel is meant to denote the religious leadership.  Here, it's clear that Jesus' truth has sown division (Matthew 10:34-39); we read the controversy He has caused and the conflicting perspectives.  At this backdrop to this autumn festival, and now in this final year of Christ's life, we see the effect He has had on the people as reflected here.  My study Bible notes here 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.   Here, Christ attends another festival.  The Feast of Tabernacles is held in autumn; this is the Feast of Dedication which takes place approximately three months afterward.  This is also known as the "Festival of Lights," also called Hanukkah. It commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the Seleucid King Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 BC (see 1 Macabbees 1 - 4).  At this festival, my study Bible explains, the leaders of Israel's past were commemorated, many of whom were themselves shepherds. 

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 them, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me."  My study Bible comments that both what Chris told them and the works He had done have already answered the question these religious leaders pose to Him.   For only the Messiah could open the eyes of the blind (no other miracle story of the healing of a person blind from birth occurs in Scripture), or perform these miracles or "signs" that bear witness to Christ.  Similarly, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people as Christ does (John 7:46).

"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."   Christ's words, "As I said to you . . ." gives us the assurance that He is speaking to the same Pharisees He addressed three months earlier at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 10:1-5).   Here as He begins to respond to their question, He reveals Himself as fully God.  To be one together with Father, my study Bible says, means one in nature or essence.  So, Christ is God before all ages, He remains God after the Incarnation, and for all eternity.  Jesus says, "I and My Father are one" -- the plural verb are indicates two distinct Persons, and at the same time confirms a continuous unity.  We will witness the response of the religious leaders in our following reading. 

Jesus today returns to a theme He has continually gone back to already:  His relationship with the Father.  Nothing could be more affirming of their unity than the statement "I and My Father are one."  For this, of course, the religious leaders have already sought to have Him arrested and to stone Him (see John 8:58-59).  But here Jesus speaks of unity with the Father once more in order to emphasize the power of the faith of His sheep, for it's to emphasize that there is nothing anyone can do if the Father wills something be so.  He says,  "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."   In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, when St. Peter makes the confession of faith on behalf of all, the same thing is affirmed, but in different words.  In that passage, Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  And Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  We first hear from Jesus that it is the Father who has revealed this faith in Christ's identity to Peter, "and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  That is, the powers of the devil or the evil one cannot prevail against the rock that is found in that faith.  For, just as Christ was surely both fully divine and fully human, there is another type of divine-human connection here that Jesus is pointing out, and that is the Father at work within human beings revealing the Son, and the faith that is born of that.  That divine-human connection of faith, of what is revealed in the human being by the Father, is such a bond that Christ describes it as a rock.  Here in today's reading, Jesus speaks to the religious leaders who wish to be rid of Him, who cannot "hear His words" because they are not His sheep, because they do not hear the Father nor this revelation of the identity of Christ.  Their hearts are far from God, even though they are the chief religious leaders of all of Israel, the custodians of her spiritual history and life.  But they work with the one who opposes God:  Jesus has said to them, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).  This is why they are not of Christ's sheep, they cannot hear the words He says, they cannot understand what He is talking about nor accept it.  But despite all that they do to defeat Him, His ministry, and His followers, they will not prevail, for Jesus and the Father are one, and no one can snatch the sheep from His Father's hand.  For the Father is greater than all, and it is the Father who gives the faithful to Christ.  So, when we ponder this divine-human connection, let us consider how God works among us and has come to us -- not only in the Person of Jesus Christ, both divine and human, but also how the Father continues to reveal faith within and among human beings, and how powerful that true revelation is.  Let us consider how we are so elevated and exalted as to play a part in the redemption and salvation of the cosmos, for God the Father works in us sheep as well.  It is in our humility that grace truly works most powerfully of all.  

If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go

 

 Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him.  And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck You?"  And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, "If You are the Christ, tell us."  But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will by no means believe.  And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.  Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God."  Then they all said, "Are You then the Son of God?"  So He said to them, "You rightly say that I am."  And they said, "What further testimony do we need?  For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."

 

- Luke 22:63-71 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?  When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me.  But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."  Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest's house.  But Peter followed at a distance.  Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.  And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man was also with Him."  But he denied Him, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him."  And after a little while another saw him and said, "You also are of them."  But Peter said, "Man, I am not!"  Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, "Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean."  But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying!"  Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.  And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.  Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."  So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

 

  Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him.  And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck You?"  And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.  For commentary on this, we need only go to St. Peter's own words, for which yesterday's reading serves as illuminating backdrop.   St. Peter writes of Jesus that "when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23).   St. Cyril of Alexandria comments, "This One is despised as one of us, patiently endures beatings, and submits to the ridicule of the wicked. He offers himself to us as a perfect pattern of patience. He rather reveals the incomparable greatness of his godlike gentleness" (Commentary on Luke, Homily 150).

As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, "If You are the Christ, tell us."  But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will by no means believe.  And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go."  My study Bible says here that Jesus asked many questions of the Jewish leaders which they refused to answer, because doing so would have meant confessing Him as the Christ (Luke 20:4-7; Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 3:4).  

Then they all said, "Are You then the Son of God?"  So He said to them, "You rightly say that I am."  And they said, "What further testimony do we need?  For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."  By this claim, Christ declares Himself to be equal with God.  The leadership clearly understands this.

We notice Christ's peaceful and longsuffering behavior when abused by the soldiers.  But it seems to me more accurate to understand Christ's behavior as that which has as its basis what is truly effective and what is not.  In terms of responding to this abuse, it would do Him little good, even in a pragmatic sense.   Jesus is the One who has taught us, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6).  Apparently He has gauged, we might assume, that no one would benefit, not even the soldiers, by His responding in a more open and assertive way.  He makes this clear in the verses that follow, when He says to the religious leaders in response to their question:  "If I tell you, you will by no means believe.  And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go." Jesus has assessed the circumstances, and He understands well what is happening and who these men are.  If it were possible that through His words He could teach, or could save any of them -- the religious leadership or the soldiers who beat and mocked Him -- we may be confident, judging by all of His previous behavior, that He would do so.  Clearly He has decided that none of these are receptive to the truth He has to tell, and which He has given to the world through His ministry.  When Jesus answers their next question, "Are You then the Son of God?" by saying, "You rightly say that I am," He does so with the full knowledge of the result -- they will vilify Him as a blasphemer.  But Jesus has understood long before this what He would be walking into, and what His Passion is going to be.  He has known that He will suffer, and has warned His disciples several times what was to come (Luke 9:21-22, 43-45; 18:31-33).  But there is something here that asks us to delve more deeply into what is happening.  We view an injustice, and we view abuse -- an innocent Man being railroaded by those who feel their power and authority is threatened.  But the "more" that might not be obvious is what kind of a fight Jesus has entered into with His public ministry, and with the Kingdom He brings into the world and leaves to us.  This is a Kingdom that carries with it a spiritual battle, something more deeply true than any kind of a side that would fight in a material way.  He has said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36).  He has also said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).  His Kingdom and His sword are one and the same thing:  they are truth.  He has come to bring spiritual truth to the world -- and the battle is a spiritual one between that truth and lies.  That is, the spiritual truth of a God who loves us and wants what is best for us, the truth about who Christ is, and the lies that would darken that light.  So Jesus' very measured responses to what might outrage us under even "normal" circumstances (let alone the unique circumstance here and in the faith that Jesus is Christ the Son), comes as a part of that "good fight" which is "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).   So, therefore, we must see Christ's response on these terms.  For Christ's fight is not one of material might and manipulation, but one of truth -- and everything He does, including going as He goes to His Passion, is in service to that fight for truth, which is a spiritual battle.  So while He looks like He's not "fighting back" on worldly terms, He is fight the good fight with truth.  He won't waste His words on those for whom they will be meaningful, but leaves a more sure judgment and power to God, as St. Peter writes in our quotation above,   Jesus has "committed Himself to Him who judges righteously."   This is the deeper and bigger picture, the one we miss if we fail to understand the true battle, which still rages and in which -- whether people know it or not -- this world remains caught.  When Christ fights, it's not with weapons of conventional war, but with weapons of truth.  And when we follow Him, so we must engage and participate in the same battle.  It's one thing for people to engage in what we call fighting or argument or battle for its own sake.  But to enter into spiritual battle is simply to tell the truth, to stand in its grace, to follow where it leads, and to accept even the patience and forbearance which Christ embodies here in today's reading.  For He is not fighting in any conventional sense, He is telling the truth.  If we fail to see the greater result, the bigger battle, and the spiritual reality of God, we will fail to understand.  We won't see the protective justice systems which have evolved in our nominally Christian societies to protect the rights of the innocent.  We won't see the principle of human freedom which has evolved out of an overwhelming sense of what Christ has taught us and stood for.  We won't see the therapeutic benefits of forgiveness, and we might not even have any notion of what it is to be gracious, even to receive an "unmerited" mercy for its own sake.  But Christ's truth yet remains despite the darkness which doesn't comprehend it, and we still must stand in the light.  What looks like fighting remains simply just, in that we remain in the truth, following Him.