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.”
What about us? We may be part of Jesus’ flock, belong to His sheepfold and ask Him to speak to us, to tell us the truth, to show us His way. But when we hear a sermon or read a passage of Scripture that calls us to action, to make a decision, to obey a command, to stand for truth, to repent of a sin, to change an attitude, to take a step of faith, what do we do with this knowledge? Do we rationalize it away or do we take responsibility when we receive answers to our questions from the Word of God? Are we asking Jesus questions because we really want to know who He is and what His will is for our lives. When we here the answer, are we willing to act on what we have heard? Or do we not even dare to ask for fear of the answer? Do we believe that whatever God has called us to do, He will also supply the strength, the practical wisdom, and resources to accomplish it?
We all face challenging situations, encounter difficult people and circumstances and, at times, have to make painful choices? Are we willing to own our decisions whether good or bad, to listen to what Jesus has to say about the way things are and take personal responsibility for our lives? Are we willing to do what is necessary, to make the hard choices in order to be set free to live the life He has called us to? Or is it sometimes just easier to play the victim, blame others, our family, workplace, my boss, the government, the economy, or whatever else and continue to be a slave to our circumstances?
It seems to be part and parcel of human nature to blame something or someone for our problems and misfortune without taking personal responsibility for our decisions and our lives. There are those who have been truly victimized and traumatized by others, but the question is what do they do with their experiences? There is, many times, a need for healing but that doesn’t take away the fact that we do have choices in life. When we do get hurt, cheated, scammed, or suffer physical or emotional harm from others, if we turn to God and choose to trust Him, and learn and grow from these negative experiences, and get His perspective He promises to work every situation to the good. We can choose to forgive others and we can own our mistakes and take responsibility for the things God has entrusted us with. We have a God who is faithful to empower us, who desires for us to come to Him for forgiveness and the grace to forgive others, to give us wisdom, and is waiting to give us what we need for the situation at hand. Choosing freedom means taking what we have heard from biblical principles, taking responsibility, and applying truth to our lives. But freedom also comes from the second point:
2. Understanding our Security
In verse 26 Jesus was saying to the religious crowd, “You do not have the distinctive characteristics nor the promises of those who belong to my flock.”
(27) His sheep listened to His voice, understood His words and works and followed Him. The blessing that comes out of this relationship is that His sheep, His people, are assured of the security of their salvation and final redemption and the security of His unfailing love. Jesus said that He gives His sheep eternal life. “Give” is in the present tense - those who believe in Jesus do not have to wonder or wait until they get to heaven to know they are secure but can experience this security every day.
Knowing that He is with us and that He will provide for us every day, no matter what is happening in our lives or around us can give us great peace. In the amplified version Jesus said,
And I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29 AMP).
What Jesus was saying is that what His Father has given to Him, speaking about us, is more precious than anything else. No one can snatch me out of His hands, not even myself. Our peace and security is not found in our financial investments, friends, our physical strength, or our good works but in the all-powerful Shepherd alone. One NT Commentator said:
It is one of the precious things about the Christian faith… it is that our eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on his firm grip on us.
Jesus is not saying that we will be delivered from all earthly disasters, but that we will be saved, no matter what disaster or calamity may come and that He is able to work all things together for good. We can rest assured that our foundation is secure in the midst of uncertainty. Jesus has not only overcome the world (Jn 16:33) but God has told us not to be terrified nor dismayed, because He is with us wherever we go (Josh 1:9). He is with us and is our peace in the storms of life. He is our strong tower and Jesus was expressing His Father’s heart for His sheep. He wants you to know this, He wants you to experience this security.
In v. 30, Jesus was saying that He and His Father are one in everything, in power, purpose, and action and here in this passage they are one in preventing the theft of any sheep from divine safe keeping.”
He was saying that whoever listens to Him finds life and in the process gains everything but the one who refuses to receive His message will lose everything, including his or her life for eternity. Outside of Jesus and His Word there is no certainty (except for death and taxes). True freedom comes from taking responsibility for the life God has given you and by knowing that your life is secure in Christ. This brings me to the last point.
3. Seeing the Obvious
Once these Jews heard the words of Jesus (v. 31) they were ready to stone Him. He asked them, “for which good and praiseworthy works of God are you going to stone Me for? For opening the eyes of the blind, making the lame walk, and curing the leper? Which of these Messianic miracles do you want to stone me for?” They were accusing Jesus of being a man who exalted himself as God (v. 33). They refused to see or acknowledge that He was God Almighty, the second Person of the Trinity who humbled Himself to become a man to save them.
Can you imagine that this nation had been waiting for thousands of years for the Messiah and now He is right in front of their faces, but they couldn’t get past their own mindset to see the obvious. Can you imagine how many times Jesus wanted them to see who God truly is and to understand His plan of redemption? Even when they tried to arrest and kill him, He still called them to come to Him to be set free from the power of sin and death. He pleads with them to believe in Him, because He knew what their end would be if they refused. You asked me if I am the Christ. It should be clear to you, but you wouldn’t examine the evidence or acknowledge the obvious by looking at the works I have been doing (vv. 37-39). It was not Jesus who rejected them, but they had ultimately rejected Him, the Savior of the world. The irony of this story is that while they were celebrating the feast of dedication, which pointed to their future freedom, they wanted to stone the very One who came to set them free from their own blindness and oppression.
As God’s children, even though we have been set free from the power of sin and death, there are still many things God wants to set us free from that affect our physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational wellbeing. Often the answer to our problem is clear, it is right in His Word, in front of our face. Are we willing to accept it? Are we secure in God’s love and promises? Are we willing to see and receive the answer to our questions from God’s perspective?
Sometimes the problem is obvious, and the answer is clear. I am tired. It is because I have not been sleeping - the answer is to get some sleep. I am hungry because I haven’t eaten. The answer is get something to eat. But sometimes you have to make hard decisions to eat well or build margins in your schedule to get the nourishment and rest you need - to live a balanced life. We think life is a sprint, we are always in hurry to go somewhere or to get things done when life is actually a marathon. We need to learn to pace ourselves for the long journey.
A professor at the Applied Administrative Sciences in Berlin conducted a study on the relationship between choices and freedom from a psychological perspective. This study revealed that when it comes to making decisions, even difficult ones, people will be more likely to experience an inner freedom when they know their decision will lead to a positive or desired outcome.
Even though the answer is clear, at times making the right choice is not always an easy one because there is a cost involved. But we want to make those decisions that will lead to a positive and desired outcome - decisions that will bring glory to God. God has given us all the practical wisdom we need for life and godliness, we just need to take it and apply it in total dependency upon the one who gave it. So as we learn to make the right choices, no matter how hard or challenging they might be, we want to make choices that honor God and accomplish His will for our lives. When we do, it will bring healing and freedom of to live the life God has created you for.
