A few weeks or months have passed, and Jesus has remained in Jerusalem. It is not clear whether Jesus has continued to come to the temple daily, or whether he has stayed away. It is interesting that the Pharisees, who tried so hard to stone Jesus to death, did not aggressively ferret him out wherever he was. Perhaps the disunity among them prevented it?
It is winter now and Jesus appears, walking in the temple during the Feast of Dedication. The Pharisees surround him once again. In the previous encounters, they kept saying that they do not know who this man is, but now they reveal that they have understood all along, asking Jesus:
“’How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly’” (Jn 10:24).
Reprising what he told them earlier, Jesus answers:
“’I told you, and you did not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one’” (Jn 10:25-30).
As one who is approaching physical deafness, I can metaphorically sympathize with the Jewish leaders. When someone tells me something and thinks I have heard it, it is really embarrassing when I look confused, and they say, “I already told you that!” But it is my responsibility, not the person speaking to me, to do whatever I can to improve my ability to hear. So I just got new hi-tech hearing aids that are so clear and startling that I wonder now if I have been hard of hearing all my life!
The Pharisees need spiritual hearing aids to be able to hear the voice of the Shepherd, as some of their subjects in the crowd are clearly doing. Jesus knows that some can hear him, and some cannot. But those who cannot have the opportunity to “hear” him, that is, to believe, based on the works that he has done and the truth that burns in so many hearts around them.
The Pharisees complaint is that Jesus is making himself equal to God. Jesus is saying that not only is he equal to God, he and God are one. I would add that they are one in perfect unity!
What evidence is there? If you have been following the phrase I AM in these blogs, you will be as thrilled as I am to discover that the grammar of verse 30 is stunning. It is essentially a double I AM! Two persons are I AM. But when Jesus uses the word “one,” the gender switches to neuter, one thing, one interest, one destination: eternal life! No one, neither the devil, or even the high priest, can snatch these new believers who hear as clearly as I now do, out of God’s hand.
How is our hearing as believers? We have much in common, but we do not yet have the perfect unity that Jesus prays for in John 17.
Can we somehow, some day, become as perfectly one as Jesus is with his father? It seems impossible right now, but it is more than possible as our hearing improves!