It was winter in Jerusalem in 30 AD, and Jesus arrived to celebrate the Feast of Dedication. Today, it is called Hanukkah. John’s record picks up events that are about fifteen months later than Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles of 29 AD (chapter 7 through John 10:21). The account begins with Jesus in the Temple (John 10:22-23).
While he was there, the Jewish authorities gathered around him, surrounding him in an effort to intimidate him, and asked: “How long will you leave us in doubt. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24). What they really wanted, it seems, was for Jesus to say something incriminating, which they could use against him with the Roman authorities. They knew perfectly well who Jesus claimed to be, and it was because he claimed to be the Christ that they were so much against him. He wasn’t the christ they assumed would appear, and, moreover, Jesus wasn’t someone they could control and use to do their bidding. No, Jesus was not their christ, so this Christ, vis-à-vis Jesus, had to go.
Some folks, my Jewish friend, Howie,[1] among them, find Jesus’ remarks unclear from time to time. The authorities want a simple answer to a simple question, but how would you answer such a question? For example, if you were not a violent man and you never laid a hand on your wife, how would you reply to a question: “Do you still beat your wife?” A simple yes or no would never do. A simple reply doesn’t convey the truth of the matter. The Jewish authorities had a false understanding of who the Messiah would be. They assumed he would be a great general who would never die and utterly destroy Israel’s enemies, particularly the Romans. So, when they came asking: “Tell us plainly. Are you the Christ?” If Jesus said yes, it wouldn’t be the truth, as they thought it was. If he said no, he would be denying what he had already claimed about himself.
From the very beginning Jesus made his claim very clear (cp. Luke 4:16-21), but the Jewish authorities didn’t believe him (John 3:11; cp. Luke 4:29). Therefore, Jesus made reference to his miracles he had done among them (John 10:25), which no mere man could do (John 15:24). Logic demands, if no man could do what Jesus had done publicly, the fact that the miracles were done point to God doing the works through Jesus. If God did the miracles through Jesus (John 5:36; 10:25), then God must approve of what Jesus says and does. If this is accurate, then, though Jesus didn’t fit into the context of what Messiah would look like, according to their understanding, then they should have believed for the very sake of the miracles that Jesus is sent by God (John 14:11). In other words, accept the fact that you are wrong in believing and teaching what you do (cp. John 9:40-41), and come into a better understanding of the truth by trusting Jesus, who is trustworthy according to the miracles!
Nevertheless, Jesus explained that they don’t believe him, because they don’t hear his voice, even though they knew perfectly well that he had been sent by God (John 3:1-2, 11). Instead of believing for the sake of the works, they kept trying to fit Jesus’ words into their worldview of what Messiah is like. Then Jesus went on to explain what the Messiah and his followers would be like (John 10:26-28).
Had they heard his voice, Jesus would know them in a mutual knowledge of one another (cp. John10:14), as I described in my previous study.[2] Moreover, had the authorities actually heard Jesus’ voice, they would have followed Jesus, and he would have given them eternal life. Death couldn’t hurt them, because no one, including Rome, would be able to pluck them out of the Messiah’s hand (John 10:26-28), and the Father, who is greater than the Messiah, and who performed all the miracles Jesus had already done before them… the Father is the guarantee that no one would be able to steal away Jesus’ followers (John 10:29). In essence, this is the salvation the real Messiah offered mankind, not the undying military general the Jewish authorities had conceived and kept trying to force Jesus into accepting (cp. Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
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[1] Howie is a Jewish man I met online about 20 years ago on a religious discussion board that I frequented for about six or seven years. He was one of my favorite opponents (but really a good friend). I learned a great deal from him. I mentioned him in a previous study, when I was involved in the epistles of John. See: Antichrist – Salvation Without Christ.
[2] See my previous study: I Am the Good Shepherd!
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