Thursday 11th July
Read John 10:31-39
“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’
33 ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’
34 Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, “I have said you are ‘gods’”? 35 If he called them “gods”, to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be set aside – 36 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”? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 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.’ 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” (NIVUK)
John has spent six chapters highlighting the many, and increasing, conflicts between Jesus and the Jews. The first charge, arising from Jesus undertaking healing work on the Sabbath, ends with accusations of blasphemy (cf John 5:18) and so it is fitting that the same charge concludes this larger section in the gospel (v33).
It is surprising how heavily Jesus defends Himself from imminent stoning by relying on His works. Today we would tend to rely on the truth of Jesus’ words and His self-sacrificial actions on the cross if arguing that Jesus is unlike others and worthy of consideration. We would be more circumspect drawing attention to the miraculous healings Jesus undertook. Yet here Jesus relies fully on the witness of His works – they were incontrovertible evidence that His claims were not merely hot air. The Jews can’t, and don’t, deny the miraculous – it is the weight Jesus places upon them and the conclusions He draws that are beyond their belief.
Are you equally comfortable with the miraculous? Or are the associated claims the more challenging to grasp?
