A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/LII. Jesus at the Feast of the Dedication clearly asserts His Divinity
Chapter LII.
JESUS AT THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION CLEARLY
ASSERTS HIS DIVINITY.
[John 10, 22 — 42.]
JESUS assisted at the Feast of the Dedication [1] of the Temple. As He walked through the Porch of Solomon, a number of Jews[2] surrounded Him and said: “How long[3] dost Thou hold our souls in suspense? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered: “I speak[4] to you, and you believe not. The works that I do in the name[5] of My Father, they give testimony[6] of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting, and they shall not perish for ever, and no man[7] shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one.”
The Jews then took up stones[8] to stone Him. But He said to them: “Many good works I have shown to you from My Father; for which[9] of those works do you stone Me?” They replied: “For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy[10]; because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.”
Jesus said to them: “If I do not the works of My Father[11], believe Me not. But if I do, though you will not believe Me, believe the works[12], that you may know, and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Hearing this, they tried to seize Him [13], but He escaped [14] out of their hands.
COMMENTARY.
Our Lord's Divinity is proved in several ways in this chapter. It is proved: i. by His own distinct testimony, 2. by His miracles, 3. by the holiness of His life.
1. Our Lord's own testimony.
He called God His Father: therefore He is the Son of God.
He says: “I give My sheep life everlasting.” God alone can give everlasting life: therefore Jesus is God.
He says again: “No man shall pluck My sheep out of My Hand.” No one is stronger than He; and therefore He ascribes to Himself a might superhuman or divine.
He says, lastly: “I and the Father are one”; one in power, one in nature. There are two Persons, indeed, I and the Father; but only One Being, One God. The same truth of the unity of nature of the Father and the Son is further expressed by the words: “The Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” On these words St. Cyril writes thus: “The effect of this unity of the Divine Nature is that the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. Even as the sun is in the ray which proceeds from it, and the ray is in the sun from which it proceeds, so is the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son; and they, being two Divine Persons, are One God, existing for and in one another by the unity of their Divine Nature.”
The Jews understood perfectly well that by these words our Lord ascribed to Himself the Divine Power and Nature, or, in other words, that He called Himself the real Son of God. They reproached Him with making Himself God, and wished to stone Him as a blasphemer. Had the Jews understood His words wrongly, He would have said “I am not God”, in the same way as St. John the Baptist said “I am not the Christ” (chapter XI). Jesus, however, retracted none of His words, but, on the contrary, reproached the Jews for not believing them.
2. The testimony of our Lord's miracles. Our Lord appealed to His wonderful works as a proof of His divine power, and as a means whereby the Jews might know that “the Father was in Him and He in the Father”. This shows us that our Lord’s chief aim in working miracles was to induce men to believe in His divine mission and in the truth of His doctrine. Even as He spoke, He confirmed His testimony by a fresh miracle, disappearing from the midst of His infuriated enemies when they were on the point of laying hands on Him.
3. The testimony of our Lord's holiness, which was a further proof of the truth of His words, and therefore of His divine nature. Even His enemies, who hated Him, could not reproach Him with any evil deed, but admitted by their silence, when He appealed to them, that He had never done anything but good.
Application. Excite in your hearts a living faith in your Divine Saviour. He is the Eternal Son of God, who, by His Omnipotence, created the world, and for love of you became Man, and suffered Himself to be blasphemed and persecuted! Hold fast to Him, and you will not be lost, but will attain to everlasting life. No power in the world can snatch you from Him, unless you separate yourself from Him by mortal sin. Die rather than commit a mortal sin!
- ↑ Dedication. This Feast was kept in commemoration of the purification of the Temple and consecration of the altar by Judas Machabeus (Old Test. LXXXV).
- ↑ Jews. The unbelieving leaders of the people, and especially the members of the Sanhedrim.
- ↑ How long? It was no love of the truth which made them speak thus. They wished to force our Lord to declare Himself to be the Messias openly and before many witnesses. They meant then to accuse Him of making Himself a king; for most of the people believed that the Messias would be an earthly king.
- ↑ I speak. I have told you that I am the Messias (see chapter XXVI).
- ↑ In the name. In the power of the Father.
- ↑ Testimony. That the Father hath sent Me.
- ↑ No man. No one, that is, has the power of separating them from Me, for “I and the Father are one”, and, therefore, His power is My power.
- ↑ Stones. In their blind fury they actually attempted to stone the Son of God for blasphemy against God! But Jesus remained calm and unmoved in their midst, and, cowed by His look, they did not venture to cast at Him the stones which they held in their hands.
- ↑ For which? “You can reproach Me with no evil. I have done nothing but good to you; and is it for that you wish to stone Me?”
- ↑ Blasphemy. They could not deny His good works, but reviled Him as a blasphemer, in spite of the many and wondrous miracles by which the Father testified to Him.
- ↑ Of My Father. The same works as My Father. My works, my miracles testify that I have the power of the Father, and that therefore I am one with Him.
- ↑ The works. Which bear unimpeachable witness to My Divine power. They ought to make you believe that the Father is in Me &c.
- ↑ Seize Him. Such was the only response which these stiff-necked people vouchsafed to our Lord’s glorious revelation of Himself. They thought now of proceeding to extremities, and tried to seize Him, so as to thrust Him out of the Temple, and drag Him before the Sanhedrim.
- ↑ Escaped. As they were on the point of laying hands on Him, Jesus disappeared from their midst. They surrounded Him on all sides, and yet they could not capture Him! “He went beyond the Jordan”, Holy Scripture says, “into that place where John was baptizing first; and many resorted to Him, and said: ‘All things whatsoever John said of this Man were true.’ And many believed in Him.” The memory of the holy Baptist’s words still lived in those parts. The people there believed now, not only on John’s testimony, but on account of our Lord’s holiness and miracles.