John 10 - Part 4

Read John 10

Jesus told the people that he was the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Christ and they did not believe him, but they kept asking him to tell them if he was the Christ.

Jesus performed many mighty acts, miracles if you will, but the people wanted to see more.

Jesus told the religious Jews that they had everything they needed to believe but they did not believe because they were not his sheep.  They did not know his voice.

They did not know his voice.

They had neither eyes to see or ears to hear.  They were disciples of their religion not of God.

But some were his sheep.  Some knew his voice.  Some Jesus claimed as his own sheep and they received the benefit package attached.

The self-righteous started picking up rocks.  The time had come to take matters into their own hands.  Who could fault them?

So, Jesus asked what the charges were.

Good works?

Mighty acts?

Speaking truth?

Teaching love?

Knowing his Father in heaven better than everyone?

Using metaphors?  That had to be it.  It was a figurative language foul.

The people armed with rocks said that it was because he said he was God.

Isn’t that what they had been asking him to make clear to them.  If you are the Messiah, just tell us.

But surely Jesus had gone too far.  He said he and his Father were one. He said he brought eternal life to his sheep.  He did not fit the Messiah box that the Jews had built.  He upset their well-ordered yet out of sync with God world.

We have been talking about shepherds and sheep and knowing the voice of the Good Shepherd.  The religious Jews could not understand because they did not know God’s voice.

They knew the law that came through Moses.

They knew when to hold all the festivals.

They knew what offerings and sacrifices to make.

They knew that they were sons of Abraham.

They knew that God had delivered them from Egypt.

They knew that God had delivered them from Babylon.

They knew that they were in the land that God promised them.

They did not know that they were blind and deaf.  They neither saw the mighty acts of God fulfilled in the miracles of this man, nor did they hear God’s words through him.

They were not mute.  They could speak and speak they did, but when you cannot receive God’s message because you are blind and deaf, then what comes out is of the world.

It’s GIGO: Garbage in.  Garbage out.

Jesus gave them the Psalm 82 sidestep and left the area unharmed.  That’s the cover story anyway.  We know from our previous study that he escaped a stoning because his time had not yet come.

He headed to the part of the Jordan where John the Baptizer began his ministry of baptism.  It was sort of a commercial for Southwest Airlines—Wanna get away? 

We will find Jesus and his disciples there in the next chapter, but not for long.

For now, chew on this.  Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear your Lord?

Do you know his voice?

Do not resist the shepherd and sheep relationship as the religious people did long ago.

Know his voice.

Jesus is life.  Jesus is love.  Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is your Shepherd.  Know his voice.

Amen.