Scripture Daily

Context No. 3298 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 10:31-42: in context

31Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” 33The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), 36do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. 38But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. 40He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there. 41Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.” 42Many believed in him there.

The crowd takes up stones to kill Jesus for blasphemy, because, they say, you being a man make yourself God. Jesus answers by pointing to what he does: if I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know the Father is in me. He then withdraws beyond the Jordan, and there many believe in him.

Threatened with stoning, Jesus offers a test grounded in evidence: look at what I do. His works, the healings, the signs, the mercy, bear witness to who he is; they show that the Father is in him and he in the Father. And the passage closes on a quiet contrast. He goes to where John had baptized, and there many believe, recalling that everything John said about him was true. Where the religious leaders hardened and reached for stones, ordinary people, remembering John's faithful witness, believed. The evidence was the same for both; the difference was the openness of the heart.

Do I let the works and witness of Jesus lead me to believe who he is, with an open heart, rather than hardening against him as the stone-throwers did?

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