“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, “I said, you are gods” If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, ‘John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there.”

Most people have favorite books of the Bible, favorite verses, and passages, and I’m no different. In the gospels, I’ve come to really favor Matthew and John. The interesting thing is, this isn’t concrete and hasn’t always been the case for me. It’s not as though I’ve ever disliked any of the gospels, or any of the Bible for that matter, but there was a point in time where, out of the four, it was John that resonated least with me as a complete book. I still loved it, definitely certain passages and sections, but the full picture didn’t quite land for me for many years. But what the Spirit will use to work in your life isn’t limited to what you prefer, and the more time I spent in God’s Word, the more I came to appreciate the fourth and final gospel in it’s entirety. Even now, when my love and appreciation for the book of John has deepened and developed, I’m still struck by the significance of specific sections, which is certainly the case with John 10. John, as well as the other gospels, shows a steady and measured progress to Jesus’s ministry, as it relates to provoking the religious authorities of the day. There was always tension there, as He is the embodiment of the Truth, and their power stands on a framework of lies. But it’s something that, if we’re paying attention, we can see Jesus allow to develop slowly over time. We know that the religious rulers progressed from persecuting Him for Sabbath healings, to a desire to kill him in John 5:18,

“This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

But in the aftermath of this, we see Jesus return to the Galilean region, farther from their influence. In John 7 He discreetly returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, but in the middle of the feast there’s a shift. Jesus enters the temple and begins to teach; He and the Truth of His message are on display, and the religious rulers take notice. Jesus knows they want to kill Him, even the crowds know they want to kill Him, but there’s a problem. Jesus speaks with such authority, and the Truth of His Word is so cutting, that they can’t determine the meaning of much of what He says, and when they do move against Him, they’re stopped. Either by the power of His message, as with the temple guards in John 7:45-46, or in the cases where Jesus simply withdraws from the situation. There’s an ebb and flow established, where the rulers try to push against and dismiss Jesus, or bait Him into saying something that will set the crowds against Him, and Jesus for His part, destroys their case. Something that I’ve never had the proper scope of before is just how pivotal John 10 is in this back and forth that Jesus controls against those who oppose Him. He has declared His position, His mission, and His authority multiple times, but being children of lies, the religious rulers only ever grasp the edges of the message. John 10:24 shows a dropping of their pretenses, as the ruling Jews approach and ask Jesus,

“… How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

This isn’t a question seeking an honest answer, as Jesus has told them this before, though they refuse to see. Instead, this is an attempt to accuse Jesus of open blasphemy. Jesus tells them as much, that He’s answered this already, that they do not understand because (returning to the image of the Good Shepherd), they are not His sheep. But then, in verse 30 we see the entire situation shift, as Jesus openly states to them,

“I and the Father are one.”

A Clear View of the Word of God

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’”

1.      The Authority of the Word

The ruling Jews asked Jesus a question, He gave them a clear answer, revealing the Truth in no uncertain terms. Their response, being unable to receive the Truth, was to seek to kill Him immediately. Jesus, always in command, draws out the situation by legally disproving their case against Him. His works, His entire ministry, have been in line with the Law and the will of the Father. Which of His healings or teachings that attest to the glory and providence of God do they condemn Him for? They accuse Him, not of good works, but of blasphemy. This again reveals their blindness, but their response fits Jesus’s teaching during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:3–6,

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

Throughout His ministry, Jesus’s works and more importantly, the way His teachings are consistent and complimentary of His works, support His standing as the Son of God. The religious rulers are largely unable to see this because they are blinded by their own sinful aims, and in their blindness, they cannot see to judge properly. They cannot correct or guide anyone else, or see the Truth that is before them for the log that obstructs their vision. The last verse from this section of Matthew, concerning dogs and pigs is one I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating, and one I’ve seen play out personally. It’s reflected here in Jesus’s interaction with the religious rulers – His Truth is what is holy, the kingdom of heaven (which is likened to a pearl of great value in Matthew 13:45-46), is what He offers. But we see that to those who do not know to prize what is precious, to ones who wallow in their own wickedness, the response to this gift, to the Truth, is violence. Rather than argue against them based on personal perspective, Jesus stands His response on the Old Testament. This gives us a depth of understanding in our own position as children of God, Jesus’s position as the Son, and the hypocrisy of the Jews who persecute Him.

“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, “I said, you are gods” If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”?’”

What Jesus is referencing here, “I said, you are gods,” comes from Psalm 82,

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: ‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’ They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but what Jesus does here is brilliant. During the crucifixion, Matthew 27:46 says,

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

This is not an expression of doubt from Jesus, but the start of Psalm 22,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In doing this, He directs you to the Psalm in its entirety, pointing to the prophecies He fulfilled as He hung on the cross, and offering praise up to God even from the lowest and most broken of places. In quoting Psalm 82 to the religious rulers who are trying to kill Him, He attests to His position, but reminds them of their own. To break down the Psalm, we see God in a position as judge among “gods.” We see Him hold them accountable for failing to uphold justice for those who are in need, and a reminder that though they may be called “gods” they “shall die, and fall like any prince.” I want to make sure something is abundantly clear as it pertains to the matter of “gods” – you’re not God, and neither am I. No one, and I mean no one is God, but God. Psalm 82 describes the authority that is given to earthly rulers, and the responsibility they hold under God. They are in a sense meant to be imitators of God, holding some earthly authority, while He holds all authority. To take this a step further, when the prophets spoke, they spoke with the authority of God, because they are directly relaying His words as His messengers. When an Angel of the Lord speaks, they speak with the authority of God for the same reason – it’s not by their power, but by the One who sent them that they have authority. Jesus is the Light of the World, and we are made into lights through Him. It’s not altogether off base to think that we are “gods” when we are fully in line with the will of the Father. To be completely clear, this is not the word of faith, “name it, claim it,” “you have divine will and authority of your own to make and shape as you see fit,” garbage (I wish I was just talking about one false teacher, but unfortunately, there’s certainly more than one who pushes the “little gods” heresy). These teachings are false, blasphemous twistings of the Word of God. Any godliness we possess ends the moment that we fall out of God’s will and into our own. But judging by this scripturally supported doctrine, Jesus is fully capable of truthfully making the claim that He and the Father are one, and that He is the Son of God. He isn’t just in line with the will of God sometimes, but is the manifestation of the Will itself. Being fully God and fully Man, He is completely and fully in line with the plans and desires of the Father at all times. He isn’t just a “god” in the way it’s referred to in Psalm 82, holding worldly authority, or delivering the messages of God. He completely supersedes Psalm 82, corrupt powers, and “nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” He is the Word, perfect and righteous and holy. He’s the Prophet, and the Great High Priest, and the One in whom the work is finished, who died and lives forevermore. He transcends anything that had been seen on the earth before His coming, or anything that will be seen until He comes again. He doesn’t dismiss, but fulfills and builds upon what was given in the Old Testament, and for this reason, just as Psalm 82 can say, “you are gods,” so Jesus can rightly say with authority, “I and the Father are one.”

2.      The Mission of the Word

“‘If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.”

You can’t separate teachings and works. Jesus shows us by His example here that one attests to the other, and that the work He does of the Father speaks to His mission overall. He sums up this mission in John 6:38–40,

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

This speaks to the deep significance of works, in line with the will of God. Our salvation and being adopted as a child of God, are not works based matters, yet we know that our foundation of faith without works is dead. James 2:18, 26 communicates this plainly,

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

This scares some people, making them wonder if their faith is strong enough, if their works are good enough to ensure their salvation – but this misses the point. If you have faith, then you behave as someone who has faith, and do the works of God. John put it this way in 1 John 3:17,

“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

Jesus, the incarnation of the Word, was entirely devoted to the plan and will of the Father, and His teachings and miracles point back to this. For us as Christians it’s not a matter of acting like followers of Christ, but genuinely responding as ones changed by the Spirit. It’s not an act or a show. This is the reason why Paul writes that we’re justified by faith in Romans 5:1–2,

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

What we see Jesus explaining in John 10 is a viewable pathway that they could validate the legitimacy of what He’s telling them. These men, who stand before Him, stones in hand, know the Law. They should know the aim of the Law and the will of God, but their failure to see what Jesus is telling them here echoes what He told them in John 9:41,

“If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

Jesus is telling them where they can look, and what they will see to draw comfort and realize that He is honoring God’s will and His mission from the Father – but they don’t. Again, their response to the Truth is violence as they attempt to arrest Him and He slips away again.

3.      The Call of the Word

“He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, ‘John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there.”

Jesus leaves withdrawing from the presence of those who seek to kill Him. When He returns it will be at the time of the Triumphal Entry, entering the city for the week of the Passover Feast, and His crucifixion. But for now, we see Him go into the region where John the Baptist once operated, presumably Bethany across the Jordan, which we see referenced in John 1:28. Despite the fact that this seems to be a somewhat removed location, just as the people came to John in droves, so they now come to Jesus. There can sometimes be a separation of our understanding between miracles and teaching in the Bible, but they’re often one in the same. Whether it’s giving sight to the blind, raising the lame to walk, or teaching Spiritual wisdom that leads the soul toward salvation, and honors God, all these things come from the Father – none are worldly practices. John the Baptist may not have done any “signs” as the people think of them, but if we look at his teaching compared to the formal religious teachers of the day, we see the will of the Father in the instruction. On one hand, we have the scribes and Pharisees of who Jesus says in Matthew 23:23–26,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

We can see the sharp contrast of this against what John the Baptist teaches in Luke 3:10–14,

“And the crowds asked him, ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’”

The Pharisees flexed their power and authority over others, lording their moral superiority over those they were meant to teach and guide. John the Baptist offered straightforward and honest instruction for the people to live repentantly. As the forerunner sent before Jesus, he provided the lessons and divine wisdom that would be broadened and deepened by Jesus during His ministry. This shows us the call of the Word of God, which John heralded, and Jesus delivered, and how the Truth appealed to the people. John may not have worked miracles, but his teachings affirmed him as a servant of God, and were validated by the ministry of Jesus. The response of the people, seeking Jesus in this remote place, again shows us His role of as the Bread of Life and the source of Living Water. The people, who are spiritually starved, seek Him out, away from the domain of the ruling Jews, and place their faith in Him. 

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_DN6_l5GfY