“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.” John X:22-42
This is a continuation of our study of the Gospel of John. Jesus having both presented the Parable of the Good Shepherd and interpreted it for his audience, we are now informed right in the middle of the account when and where the event occurred:
“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch…”
The Temple was the place where the people of Israel met the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Temple was the place where the people of Israel prayed, where they taught, where the liturgies of Israel were celebrated — all with confidence that God was really and truly present in that very place. Thirty-three days after Jesus was circumcised, forty-one days after his birth, the days of Mary’s purification were accomplished and she, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, traveled to Jerusalem where she offered up thanks to God for the preservation of her life in childbirth and that occurred in the Temple. The Law of Moses provided that a young mother, like Mary, present the minimal offering of the poor — a “pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Recall St. Luke’s account of the aged Simeon, “led into the Temple by the Spirit” and straight off seeing the holy family, he took the baby Jesus into his arms:
“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The holy family traveled to Jerusalem frequently and the Temple always loomed large in the accounts. The next time we meet Jesus he was a forgotten twelve-year-old left behind by an inattentive family, only to be found three days later in the Temple iconically surrounded by the Rulers of Israel. Then in the second chapter of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus returned to Temple interrupting the liturgies of sacrifice and declaring his own body of flesh to be the Temple of God’s real presence, himself the Divine Liturgy made flesh, himself the great hight Priest, himself the perfect Sacrifice, and himself the finality of the Good Shepherd:
“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch…”
Here is the significance of time and place: The Feast of the Dedication is the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, also known as the Festival of Lights, and it is what most of us would know today as Hanukkah. This is not a Mosaic feast, rather it originated 175 years before our Lord’s days of flesh when Jerusalem was conquered Antiochus Epiphanies, a brutal Greek king. In order to root out Judaism he erected a statue of Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem and offered up sacrifices of swine on the altar. He ordered that Jews must worship Zeus and eat swine sacrificed to Zeus and thousands of Jews refused and were killed — that is what is referred to as the “abomination of desolation,” in the Gospel. That brought on the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus Epiphanies and they defeated his armies. Judas Maccabaeus took Jerusalem and went right about cleansing and dedicating the Temple. That involved ritual cleansing and at the end of eight days of celebration, the cleaned altar was dedicated and lit with new fire burning from pure olive oil. But there was a problem, only one small cast of pure oil was found — only enough oil for one day. According to the Book of Maccabees God blessed the oil and what was sufficient for one day only, miraculously burned for eight days keeping the Temple in the light. The cleansed altar was lit and the Temple was dedicated and the liturgies of Israel were renewed. That is the deep background of the Temple in the Gospel of John and we see its meaning coming to fullness in Parable of the Good Shepherd and the events of that day. Jesus is the High Priest, Jesus is the Light, Jesus is the Son of the Father, Jesus is the Temple, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep and he is good because he will give his life for his sheep. And his sheep are absolutely safe in his hands, they have nothing to fear, they possess eternal life, and no one can snatch them from his hand:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
Jesus’s sheep are safe and secure in his hands. No one, no spiritual power, no temporal power can do them harm — no angel or demon, no power on earth or heaven, no principality, nothing in the past and nothing in the future can snatch you from the hands of Jesus. You have nothing to fear from powers and principalities. There are no “spiritual authorities,” nor are there any “temporal authorities” — no Antiochus Epiphanies, not one who makes himself a dictator or a king, not even one who is elected by “we the people,” is able to snatch you away from Jesus’ arms. Though “temporal authorities” behave like “Temple authorities,” rejecting the God who is God, Jesus Christ, and making new abominations of desolation, they will all come to end and they will not finally hurt Jesus’ lambs.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Jesus’ promise of eternal life, faultless protection and absolutely security was his answer to the Teachers of Israel who had just surrounded him in the Temple. “Speak to us plainly; tell us whether or not you are the Messiah,” they said. Jesus, as we have seen over and over again, has not hidden his identity, it is simply the case that the Ruler of Israel did not believe him. He not only declares his identity precisely but he also demonstrates the truth of his identity in good works, as in healing a man who was blind from birth, and we know his identity to be the very Son of God by nature.
“Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you…”
This by the way has nothing to do with predestination, it simply describes the behavior that identifies a true disciple of Jesus. His disciples are like the sheep in his parable in that they hear his voice, they believe him, they trust him, they follow him and they will never perish. The Teachers of Israel do not believe him and thus they will forfeit eternal life.
The whole matter reaches a pinnacle when Jesus declares his perfectly natural union and unity and identity with God: “I and my Father are one.”
The same old crowd then attempted to stone him again, and again they failed. Others may wonder about Jesus’ own self-understanding, but the Rulers of Israel knew perfectly well what he thought:
“The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
Yes, he does make himself to be God and he makes himself to be the son of Mary as well. Furthermore he declared to Masters of Israel more than once that he was the Son of God by nature. Again the temple authorities sought to lay hands on him but they could not do it, just as we have seen several times before, but not before he linked the dedication, the sanctification of his body of flesh and blood to the feast of that day — the cleansing and dedication of the Temple by declaring that God the Father:
“hath sanctified, and sent (him) into the world…the Father is in me, and I in him.”
And then one more time (the second time in chapter 10) the Temple Authorities try to take Jesus by force and fail:
“(He) went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.”
This is a narrative signal that we are now at a major turning point in the Gospel: Jesus returns to the place he was introduced to Israel by John the Baptist, to the very spot where John first baptized and there he abode for some time. It may be that there he wintered preparing himself for the final great sign and for his final great week in Jerusalem. People followed Jesus and they cannot help but to compare him with John the Baptist and most likely those two former disciples of the Baptist who were the first to follow Jesus were part of the discussion. Jesus has returned to this spot for the sake of his disciples so that they may gather strength for his greatest miracle and the hatred and violence that will surely fall upon him when he demonstrates before all to see that even death, the last enemy, would fall before his majesty. Jesus is God’s dedicated Temple, Israel’s Bridegroom, The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the Son of Mary, the Messiah, the Good Shepherd who is about to do battle with the last enemy death.