ARE YOU THE MESSIAH?
John 10:22-30.
JOHN 10:22. The occasion was the feast of the dedication: Hanukkah. It was not a compulsory pilgrimage feast, but could be celebrated in the home, as it is today. It is interesting to notice, in passing, that Jesus did attend the Temple at this time. The inference may be, that Jesus did not disapprove of this festival.
“It was winter” may carry the same force as ‘it was night’ elsewhere (cf. John 13:30). The clouds were already gathering (cf. John 10:31).
JOHN 10:23. Jesus was walking under the shelter of Solomon’s Colonnade in the Temple.
JOHN 10:24. This would be one last chance for “the Jews,” in the person of their leaders, to figure out just who Jesus is. Suddenly a small crowd surrounded Him, demanding to know if He is the Messiah. The tone of their question seems to go beyond mere enquiry to impertinence, although they were admittedly at odds amongst themselves (cf. John 10:19-21).
The problem with their timing was that Jesus knew that if He, on such a feast as this (with all its nationalistic overtones), were to “without equivocation” announce that He is the Messiah, then they would have ‘taken Jesus by force and made Him a king’ (cf. John 6:15) after their own liking.
JOHN 10:25. Jesus was perhaps recognising some of them from an earlier encounter when He replied, “I told you before.” Jesus spoke of His Messiahship as of a different order than their limited expectations, calling in also the witness of His works. Any ‘leaders of the Jews’ or ‘students of the law’ who saw Jesus’ works, should have surely seen that He is the One spoken of in so many of the Bible’s types and prophecies, ceremonies and sacrifices.
JOHN 10:26. As He had told them earlier, if they were of God they would have heard God’s words: but ‘they did not hear God’s words because they were not of God’ (cf. John 8:47).
So Jesus now explained to them that their inability to believe was because they were “not of my sheep;” their unbelief was evidence that they were not His people.
JOHN 10:27. This recalls the conversation at the beginning of the chapter (cf. John 10:3-4): the sheep hear, He calls them by name, they know His voice, and therefore they follow. Jesus here elaborates with the intimation of a new relationship with His followers, and a change of lifestyle on their part: “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me” – shifting the emphasis from our knowing Him, to His prior knowledge of us (cf. John 15:16).
Our acceptance of Jesus’ words upon the earth, and our subsequent obedience of them, are evidence that we have already been accepted by Him.
JOHN 10:28. Jesus, the good shepherd, “gives” (present tense) eternal life to His sheep. With it comes the assurance that we shall never perish, and nothing is able to pluck us out of Jesus’ hand. Our security rests entirely in Him.
JOHN 10:29. “My Father is greater than all” forms the basis for the further assertion that neither can anything snatch us out of the Father’s hand (cf. Romans 8:38-39).
JOHN 10:30. Jesus goes on to say, “I and my Father are one.” This is a far-reaching claim, recalling the theme of the unity of the Father and the Son in John’s prologue (cf. John 1:1-14). It was certainly understood by His hearers to be a claim to equality with God (cf. John 10:33)!
