(Gospel of John 10:22 - 10:42)
In winter, at the time of Hannukah, the Festival of Dedication of the Temple, Jesus was in Jerusalem walking in the courtyard of the Temple under the Portico of Solomon. The people gathered around him and demanded, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense. If you are the Messiah, tell us straight out!"
"I have already told you," Jesus replied. "but you won't believe me. The miracles I perform in my father's name is my proof, but you do not believe me because you are not sheep of my flock. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them. And they follow me. I will give to them everlasting life so they may never die. No one will snatch them from me, for they were delivered to me by my Father. Since he is superior to all, no one can snatch them from the hands of my Father. And the Father and I are one."
The people picked up stones to throw at him, at which Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many good works of the Father. For which of these are you stoning me?"
"We are not stoning you for any of your good works," the mob responded, "but for blasphemy! You are only a man and yet you claim to be a god."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in the Law that, 'I have said that you are gods'? If those who were divinely inspired were called 'gods,' -- and the Scripture cannot be challenged -- then how can the one whom God has sanctified as his very own and sent into the world be blaspheming when he says, 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing the works of the Father, then don't believe in me. But, if I am, then believe in them even if you disbelieve in me, so that you may then see and believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Once again they tried to arrest him, but he slipped away from them and escaped. He returned to the other side of the River Jordan where John had earlier been baptizing. Jesus remained there. Many people came to see him, saying, "John didn't perform any miracles, but all he said about this man is true." And many people there believed in Jesus.
Notes
1. Solomon’s portico (a roof supported by a row of columns) was on the eastern courtyard of the Temple. In the Temple of Solomon (whose construction was completed in 827 BC), it was the area where the king passed judgments. The huge retaining wall (600 feet high!) on which it rested extended to the valley below and was the only part of the original Solomonic Temple that was not destroyed by the Chaldeans in 586 BC. The area, containing cloisters housing the Levite priests, was large, about 75 by 35 feet.
2. Hanukkah (or Chanukah), also known as the Festival Of Lights, celebrates the re-dedication of the Second Temple. This occurred after the Maccabean Revolt that, in 160 BC, secured religious freedom for the Hebrews and semi-autonomy from the Seleucid Empire for much of Palestine. The Second Temple had been completed in 516 BC during the reign of the Persian king Darius the Great after the Persians, destroying the Chaldean Empire and establishing suzerainty over its territories, allowed the Hebrews to return from exile and re-establish religious practices. Around 20 BC, it was renovated by Herod the Great, the King of Judea, which was at that time an autonomous nation, but a client state of Rome. It became known as Herod’s Temple and was the Temple Jesus knew. It, however, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD during the First Jewish-Roman War.
3. Jesus must again justify his claim to divinity. The miracles that he has performed are his major proof. He is not challenged on that. No one presents the argument that the miracles could be the work of the Devil or that Jesus might be inspired or aided by some powerful spirit being who is not God. (Fourteen-hundred years later such arguments would employed against the self-proclaimed Daughter of God, Joan of Arc, when she was tried, albeit by a sophisticated group of clerics.)
4. Jesus dismisses those who don't believe him as not being his sheep and, therefore, incapable and unworthy of believing. The logic is circular. It is rather like telling someone that if he accepts my argument, he is wise and good; if he rejects my argument, it's no wonder, because he is stupid and evil.
5. The crowd listening to Jesus at the Temple are about to stone him for the blasphemy of declaring that he is a god. Jesus explains that those who are divinely inspired have always been called "gods" in Scripture. This is beside the point, because he does not claim to be merely a prophet. He asserts that it is correct that he call himself the "Son of God" for the simple reason that he is. By accepting the undeniable authenticity of his miracles they will then realize the truth of his claim. Still, Jesus offers no other proof than the miracles he has performed. Although one would think he would have the power to do, the Son of God does nothing to impress his doubters. The Father does not speak from the sky or hurl a thunderbolt at the doubters. Jesus does not do anything really spectacular like making himself invisible, changing shape, or flying about -- things that would be truly convincing. Instead, Jesus, with few exceptions, relies upon minor miracles that can be dismissed as conjuring tricks or traditional faith healing.
6. Jesus, in passing, mentions that the Scriptures cannot be challenged. This is, of course, an essential tenet of the Judaic religion, that the works of what we know as the Old Testament are infallible and absolute truth; its history is accurate, its laws are to be observed, its rituals followed, its prophecies fulfilled. Jesus must work within that traditional framework so that he will be seen to be true to the old religion and not a heretic. He is obliged to use Scripture to justify himself and what he says and does.
7. Jesus, escaping from those who would stone or arrest him, goes to the other side of the River Jordan, where he is more appreciated, mostly by the followers of John the Baptist. We may know little of Jesus' physical appearance, but he was apparently ordinary-looking enough to avoid detection in a crowd and agile and nimble enough to affect these numerous escapes.
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