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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you
keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do
in My Father’s name testify about Me, but 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; no one will snatch them
out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no
one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Again His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus said
to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these
do you stone Me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for
blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are
“gods”? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture
cannot be set aside—what about the One whom the Father set apart as His very
own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse Me of blasphemy because I
said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe Me unless I do the works of my Father. 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 in the Father.”
Again they tried to seize him, but He escaped their grasp.
Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been
baptizing in the early days. There He stayed, and many people came to Him. They
said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man
was true.”
And in that place many believed in Jesus.
John 10:24-42
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Are you a part of the “flock”
of Jesus, counted in the number of those who have chosen to believe in Him as
God’s Son and Savior?
That is the question
grounded in today’s devotion as we look at the closing verses of John, Chapter
10.
In yesterday’s message,
we looked at how the Jews in Jesus’ company refused to believe He was who He
said He was, despite everything He had done in plain sight. That everything had
included the recent healing of a man who was blind by birth, an act that no
mere man had every accomplished before.
You’ll recall that Jesus
was in Jerusalem near Solomon’s Colonnade when He was engaged by a group of
Jews. They didn’t wait long to query Jesus, asking:
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us
plainly.”
Jesus had heard enough
and so He confronts the Jews with the issue at hand, their unwillingness to
believe Him for who He said He was. Look at His reply here:
“I did tell you, but
you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify about Me, but
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; no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them
to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
Indeed, Jesus didn’t perform the miraculous works by way of His own merit
or even for His own glory but by the merit of His Father God and for His glory.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, had come to bring eternal life to any sheep who would
choose Him to be their Shepherd, the disciples who would choose to follow Him.
Jesus’ sheep would never perish and no one would ever be able to take away
their salvation as they were firmly in the grasp of the hands of their Savior
Shepherd and the Father God who sent Him.
Jesus concluded with words that quickly angered the Jews in attendance,
saying:
“I and the Father are
one.”
We know the Jewish people gathered were angered because they picked up
stones with the intent of throwing them at Jesus. But before one was thrown,
Jesus gave them a question to ponder:
“I have shown you
many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
Again, Jesus asserts that He and God were one. God had sent Him to do
many miraculous good works and Jesus wanted to know why they would want to
stone Him for doing good, challenging His attackers to state the reasoning for
their assault on Him.
Well, the Jews quickly tell Jesus that their intent to stone Him wasn’t
based on any good work but rather for the sin of blasphemy because Jesus had
proclaimed Himself equal to God, even though the Jews viewed Him as just a “mere
man”.
Since the Jews wanted to talk about the law and specifically a law that
Jesus may have broken, Jesus Himself pulled out a law reference Himself, asking:
“Is it not written in
your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the
word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the One whom the
Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you
accuse Me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?”
The scripture Jesus quotes here is from the Old Testament Book of Psalms,
specifically Psalm 82:
“God presides in the
great assembly; He renders judgment among the “gods””
“How long will you defend
the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?”
“Defend the weak and
the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
“Rescue the weak and
the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand
nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are
shaken.”
“I said, ‘You are
“gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’”
“But you will die
like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”
“Rise up, O God,
judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.” Psalm 82
In this Psalm, we find God rebuking those who He had placed in positions
of authority over His people, authority figures who He referred to as “gods”
and “sons of the Most High”. These human “gods” had been given a deep
responsibility to govern and care for God’s people but instead had created an
environment steeped in social injustices. The unjust were defended. The leaders
showed partiality to the wicked over the righteous. The weak, fatherless, poor,
and oppressed were left without representation or the resources they needed.
The rulers of Israel were utter failures and would die like mere mortals.
By their actions, they were a disgrace before the God who appointed them.
Conversely, Jesus, selected and appointed by God Himself, had done
nothing to dishonor His Father and had only done good works, pleasing to God.
Jesus simply made the case as to why they couldn’t believe He was who He
claimed He was, a truth that was the polar opposite from blasphemy.
But He wasn’t done challenging His accusers. He still had this to say:
“Do not believe Me
unless I do the works of my Father. 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 in the Father.”
Here Jesus is simply saying to them, you can either believe or not
believe My words but look at the works and judge Me by them. If they did this,
Jesus was asserting that they couldn’t deny He was sent by His Father and
exercised the kind of power that only could come from God Himself.
In other words, Jesus was saying He was in His Father and His Father was
in Him. They were conjoined in order to do miraculous, powerful works which
would culminate in a resurrection from death to new life and a heavenly
ascension which would place Jesus in authority over heaven and earth as He
assumed the seat at God’s right hand.
Would the Jews now see the wrongs of their ways, repent, and believe in
Jesus?
No. The scriptures tell us they “tried to seize Him” but Jesus “escaped
their grasp” before crossing the Jordan to where John the Baptist had baptized “in
the early days”. There, many people came to Him and, remembering the words John
spoke about Jesus and seeing them as true, placed their belief in Jesus.
Two separate encounters
with the Jewish people. In one instance, those gathered rejected the Good
Shepherd and were left behind, misguided “sheep” without someone to guide,
protect, and save them. In the other, the people believed in Jesus and instantly
joined His flock from which no one would be able to take them away. They would
follow their Shepherd through the present life and the eternal one yet to come.
And this leads me back
to the opening question. Based on this message today, which group do you most
associate with?
Or let me ask it another
way, “Are you a part of Jesus’ flock?”
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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