John 10:22–42
Read the passage.
If you’ve ever heard a bit of Jewish history and then wondered, “Huh, did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah?” here’s your verse. The “Feast of Dedication” here is translated through Greek from the Hebrew word “Hanukkah”.
Rumors about Jesus have probably been circulating since He made such a scene at the Feast of Booths back in the fall. This leads some of the Jews who have come to the temple for the feast to ask Him to clarify things. They ask, “Are you the Christ? Tell us plainly,” and Jesus replies, “I already did, and you didn’t believe me.” Of course, the popular understanding of what the Messiah was going to say and do was pretty different from what Jesus had been saying, so some confusion is undestandable. But Jesus’s answer alludes to the fact that the confusion is also part of the point. Only those who believe Jesus is the Son of God are going to understand what He is doing in the world at that time, so only they are going to hear and listen in the first place.
As Jesus repeats the metaphor of His role as shepherd and the people’s as His sheep, He also draws the clearest line yet to show His relationship to the Father. (Emphasis mine.) “I give them eternal life…and no one will snatch them out of my hand. …and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (v. 28–30) Whose hand is it, the Father’s or Jesus’s? Yes. It’s the same hand. Different persons; same divine essence.
The unbelieving Jews again want to stone Jesus for blasphemy, because they can’t imagine that He’s anything but the human they can see. Despite hearing about the miracles and everything else they know about Him, they cannot reconcile what they see with what Jesus says. Jesus calls them out on this too. He points back to all of the sign-miracles He has done to show that His message is from God. They say that doesn’t mean He can “make himself God.” (v. 33) Jesus points out that people have been called “gods” in the Old Testament before, specifically referencing Psalm 82. This use of “gods” is not about divine beings of any sort, but about the delegation of divine authority to dispense judgement from God to His creatures, whether angels, kings, or judges. He argues from the lesser to the greater: if mortal men can be called gods, why can’t the actual Son of God who was sent into the world by the Father call Himself the Son of God too? The proof of that is, again, the miraculous works that point to God’s approval and validation of the words He says. Though the Jews in the temple didn’t agree and tried to kill Him again, Jesus goes out to where John had been baptizing and many people in that area did believe in Him because of the signs He showed them.
It is a marvelous thing that You hold fast to us and never let us go.