Choosing Freedom

We are continuing in the Gospel according to John and are in the second half of chp 10 today. The setting is the feast of dedication and Jesus is coming to the end of His public ministry. This feast was to memorialize the cleansing and rededication of the temple in Jerusalem under Judas Maccabeus who freed the Jews from the Greek occupation in 164 B.C. The feast was symbolized by a celebration of lights. But here the lights were lit in each house, not in the temple. It was not a celebration that pointed to the past but to a future hoped-for time when the Messiah would come to the temple and establish, as Judas Maccabeus had anticipated, a time of freedom from oppression and independence for each person and family.

John 10:22-39

22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not My sheep. 27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified), 36 are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, 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 in the Father.” 39 Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp.

Jesus is talking with the religious Jews in this passage. As we read through the account, we see it is not an unusual situation for Jesus to be questioned by the Jews concerning His teaching, His authority, and especially His deity. I asked the Lord, what do you want us to learn from this passage? What are You saying to us as Your people, as Your church? Instead of simply talking about what the passage is relaying, how can we apply this to our lives in a practical way?

There are three things I could see in this passage…

The importance of:

? Taking Responsibility

? Understanding our Security and

? Seeing the Obvious

1. Taking Responsibility

John tells us that this encounter took place in winter, at the feast of dedication. Jesus was walking in an area of Solomon's porch when all of a sudden, He was surrounded (encircled in a military sense) by a group who came to interrogate Him. They weren’t asking questions to discover the truth about Him, or to help them to decide whether to follow Him or not, but to find a reason to arrest Him and put Him to death.

In v. 24 they essentially said, “If you really want us to know who you are, stop keeping us in suspense. Tell us the truth, make it clear or else we won’t know what to think.” On the surface it looked like they were willing and open to believe the truth if only Jesus would openly tell them who He was. Jesus said to them, “I not only told you who I am in my teaching, I showed you time and time again through My good works and the messianic miracles I performed.” They already had sufficient evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, to convince them of who He was. But instead of being responsible for what they heard and acting on what they knew, they rationalized away His teaching and works by accusing Him of being demon possessed and insane. In reality, their minds were already made up and would argue their case no matter what Jesus did or said. It’s like the old adage goes, “Never explain yourself. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it.” Jesus was putting the ball back in their court - telling them to take responsibility for what they had seen and heard. In this case, Jesus said, “you don’t believe Me because you’re not My sheep.”