St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Fourth Sunday of Easter
29 April 2007
John 10:22-30

I want to deal with this Gospel passage today largely from an historical perspective because when we really dig into this brief passage there is an awful lot of history embedded in this section of John’s Gospel. I want us to look at it in some detail for a few minutes this morning.

This passage is pulled out of a section of John’s Gospel where the issue is Jesus’ identity. In one incident after another, some of the Jewish leadership are challenging Jesus as to ‘who exactly are you’? Remember that Jesus was not a part of the temple establishment in Jerusalem. He was not one of the clergy, so to speak, of the temple. Yet, he was extraordinarily gifted, clearly gifted in healing, and in teaching, and in preaching. So, now when John says, ‘the Jews’, of course, he does not mean every single Jew in Palestine. These are leaders, rabbis and Pharisees. These are people from the temple hierarchy. But throughout this section of John’s Gospel, in one way or another, the Jewish leadership are challenging Jesus to say plainly, “Are you claiming to be the Messiah?” Because they are predisposed not to believe him, because he doesn’t look like the Messiah ought to look. Orthodox Jewish expectation was that the Messiah would bring in a political kingdom. He would bring in the kingdom of God much like the Jews had experienced during the reign of David way back in Old Testament times. Jesus did not look like that to them. He was preaching. He was teaching. He was healing. But he wasn’t bringing in a political movement. So, the hostility just builds from some of these Jewish leaders, and they are challenging him in this particular passage. “Tell us, yes or no, are you the Messiah? Are you claiming to be God’s Anointed One?”

Let’s look briefly at the passage. The first line is, “It was the festival of the Dedication at Jerusalem.” This is another way of saying Hanukkah. It was Hanukkah in Jerusalem. It would be around the time that we now celebrate Christmas. Hanukkah goes back to the year 164 BC when Judas Maccabeus led a revolution that overthrew the Seleucid rulers who had come into Palestine at that point in history. So the festival of the Dedication is Hanukkah. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. Now, for someone like me, this is very interesting. It may not work for you like it does for me! This is an archaeological moment! The temple had been destroyed at the time of the Babylonian exile. It had been rebuilt afterwards, but like any building that is built over time, there are different stages of architecture. And what happened was not every single brick of the original temple had been destroyed. People at this time in history thought that this particular part of the temple was original and went all the way back to the time of Solomon. So, this corner of the temple that had this masonry that was clearly more ancient than the newer work was thought to go back all the way to Solomon. So, it was called Solomon’s portico. That was where Jesus was walking. This part of the temple was in the southeast corner of the complex, and with the prevailing wind in this part of the world in the wintertime, the southeast corner would have been the corner most shielded from the weather. So, Jesus is walking where it makes sense to walk. He is not getting as much wind and rain in this corner of the temple that goes all the way back to the time of Solomon himself.

Jesus is teaching in the temple, though he is not a part of the temple establishment itself. He is not one of the official rabbis. The Jews gathered around him, and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” Some English translations translate the Greek here, “How long will you keep annoying us?” It is a wonderful translation. “How long will you keep annoying us?” Here it says, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” A group of Jews has already tried to stone Jesus. They are so angry at him because he appears to be claiming to be the Messiah, though he doesn’t say so explicitly. And because he doesn’t look like they think the Messiah should look, already an angry mob has tried to kill Jesus by stoning him. You can read about that in Chapter 8 of John’s Gospel, vs. 59. Jesus answers them at this moment, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, testify to me, but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.” These people are so predisposed not to accept Jesus for who he is claiming to be that nothing he does will convince them. Just before this passage in John’s Gospel, in Chapter 10, vs. 20, a group of Jewish leaders are quoted as saying, “He has a demon, and he is mad.” That is how hostile these people were to Jesus. He would heal someone of a sickness, and his critics would say, “He is demon possessed.” They were that predisposed not to accept Jesus. Jesus says, “I am showing you the work of God, and yet you do not believe. You can’t be of my sheep if you will not believe.” When he says, “You are not my sheep,” this does not mean, “You can never come into my fold.” But Jesus is saying, “If your hearts continue to be so hardened, you will never accept me. I am showing you the work of God, and still you don’t believe.” Jesus is challenging his critics to open up their hearts to see him with new eyes and to hear him with fresh ears. Because, time after time, Jesus is showing them the love of God. And they are turning around, and saying, “He has a demon,” because he doesn’t fit the expectations that they had of what the Messiah would be like.

At the end of the passage, Jesus does say, explicitly, “The Father and I are one.” This is the foundation of the Christian life. Christian teaching is that, in Jesus, we see not merely a prophet. In Jesus we see not merely a great religious leader. In Jesus we see God. And Jesus does express here concretely, “The Father and I are one.” So, he does, ultimately, say to his critics, “I am the Messiah. The Father and I are one.”

If you continue reading, you will see that the group is so enraged that when they get the ‘yes or no’ answer they are looking for, again they get so enraged they pick up stones to throw at Jesus. They are so angry at him; they want to kill him. You can read that in vs. 31. And in the subsequent verses, Jesus says, “For what good work do you wish to stone me?” And the group says, “We are not going to stone you for good works. We are going to stone you for blasphemy.” So, when Jesus says, “The Father and I are one”, to these critics, that is blasphemy. He has dared to speak of himself in the same breath as God. So, having demanded an answer, now they want to kill him for the answer that he gave. Such was the hostility to Jesus on the part of some of his original hearers.

On Thomas Sunday, the Sunday after Easter, when I talked about Thomas being brave, it is this incident that I was referring to. When this group seeks to stone Jesus in vs. 31, in several more days, Jesus wants to go back to this same area to attend to Lazarus, who has died. If you will remember, when Jesus says, “We are going back,” the disciples said, “Lord, is that such a good idea? They just tried to kill us. Remember?” Then it is Thomas, the so-called doubter, who said, “Let us also go with him, that we may die with him.” And this is that incident. Thomas knew about this incident, and still he had the courage to say, “Let’s go back with Jesus, and die with him if we have to.” It is a wonderful passage. We get an awful lot of history in this very short Gospel passage.

Ultimately this morning, I simply want to call attention to the last verse of this lesson. Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” This is our hope as Christians. In Jesus, we don’t see merely a prophet. We don’t see merely a teacher. In Jesus, we see God. We see forgiveness. We see grace. We see love. And this is our hope as Christians. When we turn to Jesus Christ and confess our sins, he forgives us completely. Perfectly. Because he is God. Our slate is wiped clean of these sins. We no longer have to carry that burden, because in Jesus Christ we are cleansed. We are forgiven. He offers us his peace. So, this morning, may we simply take to heart this ancient, Christian proclamation that goes back to our Lord himself. “The Father and I are one.” May we open our hearts and our minds to the love and the peace of God, given to us in Jesus. Amen