May
6, 2001
John 10:22-30
They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was
winter. Jesus was strolling in the Temple across Solomon's Porch.
The Jews, circling him, said, "How long are you going to
keep us guessing? If you're the Messiah, tell us straight out."
Jesus answered, "I told you, but you don't believe. Everything
I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak
louder than words. You don't believe because you're not my sheep.
My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me.
I give them real and eternal life. They are protected form the
Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand.
The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than
the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from
him. I and the Father are one heart and mind."
<The Message >
=======
1.
[verses 27, 28, 29.] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me, etc.-- Our Lord still alludes to the discourse
he had before this festival. As if he had said, My sheep are they
who,
1. Hear my voice by faith;
2. Are known (that is, approved) by me, as loving me; and
3. Follow me, keep my commandments, with a believing, loving heart.
And to those who,
1. Truly believe (observe three promises annexed to three conditions)
I give eternal life. He does not say, I will, but I give. For
he that believeth hath everlasting life. Those whom,
2. I know truly to love me, shall never perish, provided they
abide in my love.
3. Those who follow me, neither men nor devils can pluck out of
my hand. My Father who hath, by an unchangeable decree, given
me all that believe, love, and obey, is greater than all in heaven
or earth, and none is able to pluck them out of his hand.
<John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, 1754
>
By what would you identify Jesus' sheep? Do you connect promises
to conditions? What needs to change in the conditions of your
life if you are to come into the fulfillment of the promises intended
for your?
2. [verse
30.] I and the Father are one -- Not by consent of will only,
but by unity of power, and consequently of nature. Are
-- This word confutes Sabellius, proving the plurality of persons:
one -- This word confutes Arius, proving the unity
of nature in God. Never did any prophet before, from the beginning
of the world, use any one expression of himself, which could possibly
be so interpreted as this and other expressions were, by all that
heard our Lord speak. Therefore if he was not God he must have
been the vilest of men.
<John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, 1754
>
There are many interpretations of unity of GOD's presence. This
has led to differences of opinion and the splitting of the church
and the killing of one Jesus' follower by another Jesus follower.
How might this image be used for the healing of the nations instead
of the division of the church?
3.
I, too, would like to be told straight out about GOD, but not
at the expense of the numinous and metaphoric and not yet revealed
GOD. This call for some form of fundamentalism and clarity of
meaning has been with us since the beginning of time. The conversation
between Mother Eve and Serpent and Adam come to this: straight-out
telling never settles anything. There is always the component
of action speaking louder than words to deal with.
May you hear what GOD means and know what you mean. Wow! that's
a task worthy of a life.