John 10:19-29. God’s Chosen King
Evel Knievel was an American stunt driver who dared death with his motor bike jumps. It was once rumoured that he had been killed trying to jump the ‘Nixon credibility gap’. There is today a large ‘credibility gap’ between what many of our politicians say and what they really are. Do you remember what Robert Mugabe used to say about honesty, fairness and equality when he took over Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe?
In this passage there is a great emphasis on the relationship between words and deeds. The Jewish leaders profess one thing but do something else. It is even worse to tell others to live a certain way but not to live that way myself. Worse still is to criticise or condemn someone over something I do privately. Jesus repeatedly emphasised this,
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” Matthew 23:1-3
The apostles emphasised this,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith of itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” James 2:14-17
Hypocrites cause so mush harm as Paul stressed,
“You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? As it is written: God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:21-24
John emphasises the link that there is between the words of Jesus and his deeds. We must take note of what he says because his actions fully substantiate them.
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
A person recently told me that he accepts that Jesus existed, did miracles and rose again, but he realised that there is a difference between ‘accepting’ and ‘believing’. Believing involves a personal commitment to follow, and it is only ‘believing’ that is associated with the gift of eternal life.
In John’s gospel there is a strong link between the miracles that are reported and the teaching Jesus gave. He claimed to be the ‘Bread of Life’ and fed the five thousand. He said, ‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” and then immediately proceeded to heal the man who had been born blind. People always associate what a person says with what they do. Many of the Jewish leaders tried to explain the powers that Jesus repeatedly demonstrated by his being demon possessed, but many protested because his life suggested the opposite.
“These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:21
John goes on to assure his readers that anyone who truly believes in Jesus will live eternally,
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this.” John 11:27
These are the words that are commonly read at a funeral as the coffin is being carried into the church. The last phrase is nearly always left out. Wouldn’t it be helpful if the minister stopped and, looking round at everyone present, challenged everyone present by emphasising these last words,
“Do you believe this?”
Soon after saying that he is the ‘resurrection and the life’ Jesus went to the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and raised him from the dead. He had already been dead for four days.
It was the combination of Jesus’ teaching and his miraculously feeding the five thousand that caused people to say,
“Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” John 6:14
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he acknowledged that Jesus must have come from God because of his actions,
“Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:2
In the passage we are focussing on today, Jesus continues to use the imagery of the sheep and the shepherd, but he does so by emphasising this relationship between words and deeds. God clearly wants us to be sincere people and not frauds. Some have suggested that our word ‘sincere’ is derived from the Latin ‘sine’ and ‘cera’ which literally means without wax. When statues were being carved out of stone it was all too easy for the statue to be chipped. The easy way to solve this was to insert a small piece of wax into the defect. A perfect statue would be ‘sine-cera’ or without wax. It was the genuine article. The oldest versions of this story claim that vendors of honey in the markets of ancient Rome cried “sine cera” to assure buyers that their honey was pure and free from wax. However speculative such stories are, Jesus certainly wants his people to be genuine, sincere people.
Mixed Reactions 10:19-21
Jesus has just said some very strong words. He has claimed to be the one ‘Good Shepherd’ that the Old Testament prophets had said would enter this world. He had also criticised the Jewish leaders for being ‘false shepherds’ who were ‘in it for themselves’. Jesus compels people to make a decision about him. Those opposed to what he was claiming felt they had to do something, they had to get rid of Jesus. John has already mentioned the leaders desire to kill Jesus six times (5:18; 7:1, 19-20, 25; 8:37, 40).
Those who did not recognise Jesus to be God’s Messiah, the Good Shepherd, suggested that what he was saying were the rantings of a madman. The problem others had with this suggestion was that there were no stigmata of lunacy at all. He was calm, balanced and kind. They argued,
“These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the yes of the blind.” John 10:21
The sign of Jesus, when he opened the eyes of the man born blind, was a parable of what he wants to do for all people who are spiritually blind. He wants people to be able to see who he really is. Jesus says that our reaction to him determines our eternal destiny. This is what Jesus goes on to emphasise. Those who are not God’s people refuse to listen to what the Son of God says.
“. . . you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” John 10:26-28
Tell us plainly 10:22-30
Two months after the Feast of Tabernacles, when Jesus had healed the man born blind and had explained its significance, he is again back in Jerusalem, at the time of the Feast of Dedication. This feast could be celebrated wherever people lived. It occurred in winter time, our December, and during this feast Jesus was walking through Solomon’s Colonnade in the temple. This was the covered area along the inner side of the Court of Gentiles, the large outer court of the temple. Each of its columns was 27 feet tall and the roof was made of cedar. This feast, commonly called Hanukkah, is also known as the Festival of Lights. It commemorated the victorious revolt led by Judas Maccabeus who, between 167 to 160 BC, had fought against the tyranny of the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev, the day victory came in the fight against Antiochus. Each day one candle in a nine branched candle holder, a menorah, is lit using the central candle.
Antiochus had attempted to force Greek culture upon the Jewish nation. He had compelled priests to eat pork, had changed the chambers of the temple into a brothel and had converted the ‘Altar of Burnt Offering’ to an altar to the Greek God, Zeus. Hanukkah commemorated the day that the temple had been cleansed, the altar rebuilt with fresh stone and the temple reconsecrated to the Lord. It was Judas and his family who had instituted this Feast.
“Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.” 1 Maccabees 4:59
Hanukkah was a day of deliverance which is probably why Jesus chose this day to speak openly again since he also had come to free people from captivity, their captivity to sin. The Jewish leaders again surround him and aggressively ask,
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” John 10:24
Whether they felt Jesus had been evasive or they wanted him to give them clear evidence for charges of blasphemy we cannot be sure, but again Jesus answers astutely.
“I did tell you, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” John 10:25-26
Jesus had spoken openly to interested individuals about who he was but had used parables and hints when talking publicly, doubtless because he wanted to complete his earthly ministry first before condemning himself. He had made clear statements to the woman at Samaria,
“I know the Messiah, (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” John 4:25-26
He had also said the same to the man born blind two months earlier, saying to him,
“’Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact he is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe.’” John 9:35-38
Again and again Jesus had implied that he was the Son of God. At the beginning of his public ministry he had said to those who were making the temple into a market place,
“‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?’” John 2:16
After Jesus had healed a paralysed man on the Sabbath, Jesus said to the Jews,
“‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too am working’. For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.” John 5:17-18
He goes on to say,
“ . . . that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.” John 5:23
He follows this by stating that belief in him gives eternal life.
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed from death to life.” John 5:24
This point is repeatedly made clear,
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:39
“I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.” John 6:47
“‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” John 8:58
At his trial Jesus confirmed his divine nature openly to his enemies and this led to his crucifixion, as undoubtedly he knew it would. Note how the phrases ‘Son of God’ and ‘Son of Man’ are interchangeable.
“The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’”
‘Yes, it is as you say,’Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Matthew 26:63-65
Jesus’ miracles were a major feature that substantiated his claim to be the Messiah. Early in his ministry it was his miracles that had made him stand out.
“While he was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.” John 2:23
Is lack of evidence the problem?
The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would say if he found himself standing before God on the judgement day and God asked him, "Why didn’t you believe in Me?" Russell replied, “I would say, ‘Not enough evidence, God! Not enough evidence!'”
Many people today would probably say something similar. This attitude is passed on mindlessly to others: “There’s not enough evidence.” Jesus replies that there is ample evidence but if someone is preconditioned not to believe they will find any cause for rejecting him. Both what Jesus says and what he did shouted out loudly that he was from God. When asked, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us plainly, he replied,
“I did tell you, but you did not believe. The miracles that I did in my Father’s name speak for me., but you would not believe because you are not my sheep.” John 10:25-26
Jesus is again saying that his opponents belong to a different flock that is not God’s. They follow a different shepherd who is not the God Shepherd. Their shepherd is a false shepherd, he is the ‘father of lies’
Jesus has returned to the imagery of the Good Shepherd that he had used two months earlier. However he doesn’t want to be just negative so he adds some tremendous words that are addressed to those committed to him,
“My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28
This tension over whether Jesus is God’s chosen king, God’s Messiah, has continued ever since. Those of us who have heard his voice must ensure that we do follow and live as he demands, as outside of Christ there is no salvation.
The German theologian Horst George Pöhlmann concluded,
“Today there is virtually a consensus ... that Jesus came on the scene with an unheard of authority, with the claim of the authority to stand in God’s place and speak to us and bring us to salvation. With regard to Jesus there are only two possible modes of behaviour: either to believe that in him God encounters us or to nail him to the cross as a blasphemer. Tertium non datur. [There is no third way.]”
Blaise Pascal was a great mathematician and philosopher. When he was thirty one years old, he came to know God personally through Jesus Christ. That conversion experience changed his life. When Pascal died, there was found sewn into his clothing a reminder of that experience which he constantly carried with him,
“From about 10:30 at night until about 12:30. FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and of the learned. Certitude, certitude, feeling, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ ... Jesus Christ ... Let me never be separated from Him.”
Arguments and evidence can help. But as Pascal discovered, ultimately we have to deal, not with arguments, but with God Himself. It is up to each of us to open the door of our lives to him.
BVP
