Word to the Wise
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 - 4th Week of Easter - Tues
[Acts 11:19-26 and John 10:22-30]The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." [John]
Recent events in our land have shown that unpalatable truths will be denied no matter what the evidence to the contrary may be. Such is the case in the various confrontations between Jesus and "the Jews" in the Gospel According to John. Perhaps Pilate's statement in the trial cuts closer when he says, "What is truth?" [John 18:38} The confrontation in today's gospel passage is an outcome of the Good Shepherd discourse: "But you do not believe me, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me." At the end of today's passage, "the Jews" get their answer. Jesus says plainly, "The Father and I are one." The reaction is an attempt to stone him!
The setting for this confrontation is the temple during the feast of the Dedication which commemorated the reconsecration of the temple after the successful revolt against Greek-oriented rulers in 164 BCE by Judas Maccabeus. The temple would symbolize God's presence to His people, but there is irony here because Jesus is God's living presence and he is being rejected.
Over and over again in the Gospel According to John, Jesus is presented as the one whom God has sent. One either believes in him or does not. Either choice has consequences. Jesus promises eternal life. What is the alternative? AMEN