CHAPTER 10
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.” John10:1
Once again Jesus uses the phrase “Very truly” (Gk. Amēn, amēn) to indicate that this is a really important subject. This message seems primarily directed at the Pharisees, although they do not appear in the Greek text at this point. It is very clear that Jesus is the gate or door of the sheep pen. There are probably two types of pens spoken of here. First there is the sheep pen in the settled area where shepherds would lodge their flocks each night. These pens were community ones where several shepherds would bed down their flocks together. Individual flocks were generally limited to about 100 sheep.1 The flocks were assigned to a gate-keeper who would watch over them through the nighttime. When morning came each shepherd would arrive and call out his sheep and his flock would separate themselves from the others and follow him. Since this gate-keeper was a hired person, Jesus was probably not comparing himself to this figure. However, he uses this sheepfold picture to some degree, and it probably represents the nation of Israel (cf. 10:16).2
As the shepherd led his individual flock out from the others, it was his job to take it to some fine and safe grazing area where the sheep could be satisfied with “green pastures” (Psa. 23:2). Quite often these pastures were on the high mountains of Israel (cf. Gen. 37:12ff.). When the weather was fitting (and that was most of the year) the shepherd might then lodge the flock out in the fields in a makeshift shelter made of stones. This shelter was a “U” shaped affair with only one opening and that was the door. The stones were high enough to provide protection from predators and in addition, there was usually a fence on top made of briars and thorns to keep predators and thieves from climbing over.3 In my many travels around Israel I have observed examples of these ancient folds that are still being used today. It is this sheepfold that Jesus wants us to visualize. The shepherd was the door of this sheepfold and to protect his flock at night he would often lie down in the doorway, thus becoming the door or gate with his own body.
Sometimes one of the many caves in the mountain areas could be used as a sheepfold. Today on the outskirts of Bethlehem at the Shepherd’s Field, a fine example of such a cave can be seen. This cave is big enough to have housed a very large flock, and who knows, the shepherds of the Christmas story may have bedded down their flocks in this very cave.
It is certainly clear from the shepherd story that the birth of Jesus did not happen at the Christmas season. At that time of year, Israel usually receives its yearly supply of cold driving rain and often even snowfall at higher elevations like Bethlehem. Such weather would not have been fitting for shepherds and their flocks to be out in the open.
Let us think a little about the sheep themselves. Domesticated sheep are rather helpless creatures. They are nice, fat and fluffy and no doubt cause the mouths of wolves, lions and other predators to drool. They also appear as an easy target for thieves and robbers. Sheep thus require constant care of the shepherd. They are not the wisest of animals and cannot find their way to pasture or to home. They often wander away from the flock and endanger themselves. They can get lost, fall into pits, suffer from bloat, from parasites and many diseases. One shepherd tells how a sheep can get turned over on its back and not be able to right itself without help. Once I was taking my walk on the Galilee hills and suddenly found myself surrounded by a flock of sheep. The first thing I noticed was that sheep are smelly. We might wonder how the Lord puts up with our stench.
In spite of all this, raising sheep was a very important part of the economy in ancient Israel. Sheep were a valuable source of meat, milk, wool and skins. They were the most common victims for Israel’s sacrificial system.4 In fact, sheep were offered every day at the temple. Sheep, lambs, ewes and rams appear in scripture more than five hundred times.5
Let us think a little about the shepherd. Shepherding was a lonely life. It was also a very dangerous life. We read of young David and how he defended his sheep by killing a lion and a bear (1 Sam. 17:34-36). Thieves and robbers were also a constant problem. Keener says, “…Jewish law distinguished thieves from robbers: the former broke in, whereas the latter often lived in the wilderness and assaulted passerby.” 6 The shepherd had to be willing to give his life for his sheep (12b, 15, 17), just as Christ would later lay down his life for his flock, the church (Eph. 5:25, 27).
Because of the danger, the shepherd was equipped with a sling, a staff, which was a wooden club sometimes studded with nails, a knife and a rod, which had a crook at its end for catching sheep.7 The early writer Sir George Adam Smith described the shepherd with these words: “On some high moor, across which at night the hyenas howl, when you meet him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep, every one of them on his heart, you understand why the shepherd of Judaea sprang to the front in his people’s history; why they gave his name to their king, and made him the symbol of providence; why Christ took him as the type of
self-sacrifice.” 8
We can understand how God was the shepherd of Israel (Gen. 49:24; Ps. 78: 52f.; 80:1; Psa. 23:1; Isa. 40:10-11), and Jesus the shepherd of the church (Ezek. 34:23; 37:24; Zech. 13:7; Heb. 13:20). Also, we can understand why the “pastor” of the church is the under-shepherd (Acts 20:28) or overseer (the word being taken from the Latin for shepherd).9 Today in Israel a Christian pastor is called a ro-eh in Hebrew, or a shepherd.
“The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep” (10:2). This is no doubt speaking of the community fold where several flocks are bedded down at night. Each shepherd had authority to enter the gate into that fold and call out his sheep. Those who were thieves and robbers sought some other means of entering. We notice a mixing of metaphors in this chapter. We see that Jesus enters by the gate but we see him also represented as the gate. We must understand that the mixing of metaphors is quite common in scripture. For instance, Jesus is pictured as the bread and also as the giver of bread (6:35, 51). He is pictured as truth and the one speaking truth (10:8; 14:6). Jesus is the Way and the one who shows us the way (14:6).10 As the old adage says, we must not try to make a metaphor run on all fours.
“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (10:3). Once again, this is the sheepfold where several flocks were bedded-down for the night. The shepherd would be recognized by the gate-keeper and allowed to gather his flock. We might see a picture of the gate-keeper as John the Baptist. He immediately recognized Jesus and proclaimed him as the true shepherd to all the sheep who were in his care.11
We note here that a very important part of shepherding has to do with the shepherd’s voice. I have heard Israeli shepherds make some very strange sounds as they directed their sheep. The shepherd knows each of his sheep and calls them all by nicknames. They are almost his pets. The sheep follow the shepherd right out of the fold separating themselves from all the other sheep. They know the shepherd’s voice and will follow only him.
We note another thing about the shepherd. He goes in front of the flock and leads them. Thieves, robbers, and those who herd them to slaughter drive them from behind. We must remember that there were no sheep dogs in ancient Israel. The shepherd directed the flock by the sound of his voice. How important it is for us Christians to listen carefully to the voice of our Shepherd! He knows his sheep by name (Ex. 33:12, 17; cf. Is. 43:1) and can give individual instructions.12 As the sheep always need the shepherd for their survival so do Christian sheep in the 21st century.
“When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (10:4-5). Again, the voice of the shepherd is critical in shepherding. Guzik tells how that during World War I there was an attempt by some Turkish soldiers to steal a flock of sheep near Jerusalem. As they began, the shepherd was sleeping and only woke up to find his flock being driven away. He couldn’t take back his sheep by force so he summoned the flock by his distinctive call. They immediately fled the soldiers and returned to their shepherd.13
We note how the Pharisees were examples of bad shepherds. They cared nothing about the man born blind. They tried him and abused him but he had heard the True Shepherd’s voice. After they had cast him out, Jesus found him and cared for him with tender love.14 There were many passages about false shepherds in the Old Testament (e.g. Isa. 56:9-12; Jer. 23:1-4; 25: 32-38; and Zech. 11). Also, the New Testament has much to say about false shepherds (e.g. 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:1f.; 1 Jn. 4:5-6). Pett says of this parable that it “is as much about the false shepherds as it is about the true.” 15
There have been some sad tales of how false shepherds have led people away from the church in modern times. Perhaps the worst account was that of Jim Jones, who in the 70s founded the People’s Temple in California. He led his large group to Guyana and ultimately led them into a mass murder-suicide pact where 918 of them perished. Israel was always plagued with false messiah’s and it was finally a false messiah, Simon bar Kokhba who led them in a disastrous second war against Rome in AD 132-136. After that, most of the people were finally dispersed from the land.
“Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them” (10:6). The Pharisees did not get the point that they were the false shepherds of Israel. The Lord had to speak to them in parables because his word was too painful for them without the story form. The Greek word here is paroimian and it is not the normal word for parable. Although it is not the normal form (parabolē), it does seem synonymous with it as used here.16
JESUS AS THE GATE
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” John 10:7.
Once more, this is something very important. Here Jesus does not have reference to the communal sheepfold in the village but the makeshift one out on the mountains. We remember that it was made of stones with briars affixed to the top to keep predators out. In this smaller fold the shepherd himself often acted as the gate or door by lying down in the opening. This passage begins to bring out what has been called “the scandal of exclusivism in the gospel.” 17 The New Testament presents Jesus not only as the gate, but as the only gate – not only as the way, but as the only way. This not only angered the Pharisees but has angered the godless ever since. Clearly, no one can come to the Father except through Jesus (Jn. 14:6). He is the one way and the only way to God (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5). Acts 4:12 says, “…for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Jesus here makes the gospel more exclusive still. He says, “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them” (10:8). Bible commentators are quite uniform is saying that this passage does not apply to the prophets, leaders and other good men of Israel’s history. It rather refers to false leaders and rabble-rousers who had brought Israel to folly. Among these would surely be listed the Pharisees and Sadducees who cared nothing for Israel but were concerned with their own security.
Also, New Testament times were times of great upheaval. There were plenty of people around like Theudas and Judas the Galilean. These men brought great trial and travail to Israel (Acts 5:36-37). Actually, there had been several false leaders in Israel’s history (Isa. 56:9-12; Jer. 23; Ezek. 34; and Zech. 11). Barclay says, “…At this very time Josephus speaks of there being ten thousand disorders in Judaea, tumults caused by men of
war…” 18
We should note here that there is a difference between the thief (Gk. kleptes) and robber (Gk. lestes). One took sheep by cunning and by stealth while the other took sheep by violence. 19 The way of the Pharisees and other leaders was more or less by stealth, by pretending to be godly men while they fleeced the flock of God. Morris says, “He must have in view the whole of the Jewish hierarchy of his day. They were not interested in the well-being of the sheep but in their own advantage.” 20
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (10:9). Barclay comments, “To be able to come and go unmolested was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely secure and safe.” 21 Jesus says to the weary soul today, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (10:10). Not only were there thieves in the Lord’s work in ancient times, but there are thieves today. Years ago, when I took my third pastorate, I moved from Kentucky to Colorado. Many of the churches of our denomination were struggling in the western states. When my family and I got settled in, I learned to my dismay that the pastor before me had committed adultery with several of the women in the church. Also, it was pretty generally thought that he had murdered his own wife, although somehow the case was never investigated. I spent several months in the comforting work among those abused people.
It is this scripture that tells us of Satan’s three-pronged attack on our souls. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Wherever the devil has worked we will see evidence of one or all of these three attacks. Jesus, on the other hand, comes to give life, wonderful, fulfilling life in this age and eternal life in the age to come.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11.
Jesus is the good shepherd. The Greek word for good is kalos. Barclay says with this word it “means that in the goodness there is a quality of winsomeness which makes it lovely.22 The shepherd Jesus is intrinsically beautiful and fair. This reminds us of the old hymn written by 17th century German Jesuits:
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.23
The idea of God as our shepherd goes back to the pages of the Old Testament. We see it in places like the beloved Psalm 23, or Psalm 80:1. We see it also in Isaiah 40:10-11; Jeremiah 23:1-3 and Ezekiel 34:11-16. The idea has appeared in many hymns and sermons over the centuries. We sing “He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be, still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.” 24 As we have indicated, the life of the shepherd was a hazardous one, sometimes ending in the shepherd’s death. In his book on the land of Israel, Dr. W. M. Thomson writes: “… A poor faithful fellow last spring, between Tiberias and Tabor, instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending.” 25
Jesus as the good shepherd came to earth and laid down his life for his sheep. No one took his life from him but he willingly laid it down (v. 18). He died, that we his sheep might live. Wiersbe remarks, “Under the old dispensation, the sheep died for the shepherd, but now the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep!” 26
“The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (10:12-13). We see in scripture that the shepherd was to be totally responsible for the welfare of the sheep. He had to give an accounting to the owner. If a sheep was destroyed the shepherd had to relate how it happened. He had to rescue a portion of the dead sheep, even if he had to snatch it from the lion’s mouth (Amos 3:12). He had to bring the evidence of how the sheep died (Exod. 22:13). Barclay says, “To the shepherd it was the most natural thing to risk his life in defense of his flock.” 27
Of course, the hireling had no such concern. He cared only for his own welfare and for his pay. When the wolf pack came he ran for his life and let the sheep worry about themselves.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father— and I lay down my life for the sheep” (10:14-15). This speaks of a very intimate relationship between Jesus and his people. He knows them and calls them all by name (10:3). They know him and follow him. There is a lot of religion in the world and many different types of Christianity. However, the big question we should ask ourselves is this: “Do I really know the Lord?”
“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (10:16). In this verse the Lord is speaking of the Gentiles. We note that they were already considered as his sheep although they had not yet come to him (cf. Acts 18:10).28
God’s purpose was that there be one worldwide flock including Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:11 – 3:13 and 4:1-6). This is a mystery that few in the church seem to understand, even in this 21st century. Barclay tells the story of how this mystery once dawned upon an Indian chief in the Americas.
Egerton Young was the first missionary to the Red Indians. In Saskatchewan he went out and told them of the love of God. To the Indians it was like a new revelation. When the missionary had told his message, an old chief said: “When you spoke of the great Spirit just now, did I hear you say, ‘Our Father’?” “Yes,” said Egerton Young. “That is very new and sweet to me,” said the chief. “We never thought of the great Spirit as Father. We heard him in the thunder; we saw him in the lightning, the tempest and the blizzard, and we were afraid. So when you tell us that the great Spirit is our Father, that is very beautiful to us.” The old man paused, and then he went on, as a glimpse of glory suddenly shone on him. “Missionary, did you say that the great Spirit is your Father?” “Yes,” said the missionary. “And,” said the chief, “did you say that he is the Indians’ Father?” “I did,” said the missionary. “Then,” said the old chief, like a man on whom a dawn of joy had burst, “you and I are brothers!” 29
“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life— only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (10:17-18). We have noted how the Pharisees were to this point unable to stone Jesus, since his time had not come. When his time did come he laid down his life. It was not taken from him. There is the story of a French lad who was seriously wounded in the First World War:
His arm was so badly smashed that it had to be amputated. He was a magnificent specimen of young manhood, and the surgeon was grieved that he must go through life maimed. So he waited beside his bedside to tell him the bad news when he recovered consciousness. When the lad’s eyes opened, the surgeon said to him: “I am sorry to tell you that you have lost your arm.” “Sir,” said the lad, “I did not lose it; I gave it – for France.” 30
Jesus says that he laid down his life in order to take it up again. Usually the New Testament speaks of the Father raising the Son (cf. Acts 2:32; Rom. 6:4; Heb. 13:20), but here the Son takes up his own life. Being the Son of God he has that power.31 Also, the Father and Son always work in beautiful unity and harmony.32
“The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, ‘He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?’ But others said, ‘These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” (10:19-21). While the Jewish listeners were divided over Jesus, there never seemed to be much division among the Pharisees and other leaders. We perceive that the charge of demon possession made by the Pharisees has come up again (7:20; 8:48). The blind man’s healing had made a great impression on the people and this was the only way the Pharisees could discount such an incredible miracle. Morris remarks: “It is not without its interest that the only occasions in this gospel when the word ‘demon’ occurs are when the Jews are accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed or when he is defending himself from the charge (or others are doing so, as in v. 21).” 33
THE FESTIVAL OF HANUKKAH AND JEWISH UNBELIEF
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. John 10:22-23
The Feast of Dedication mentioned here is one and the same with the Festival of Hanukkah. It must have been an important festival for Jesus because he was in Jerusalem at the heart of the winter. Hanukkah falls in our December and is usually close to the Christmas celebration. No doubt the weather was not very favorable, with cold rain accompanied by wind and sometimes even by snow. Solomon’s Colonnade, which was made up of stone pillars and a roof no doubt offered some protection to the Lord. Obviously, this festival was about three months after his previous appearance in Jerusalem.
Hanukkah was the youngest of Israel’s great festivals. The holiday came about as a result of the invasion of the Greek/Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 170 BC. The rage of Antiochus knew no end. He enslaved and murdered many Jewish people, with about 80,000 perishing. He utterly ravaged the temple and polluted it by offering swine’s flesh upon the altar. He stole the temple treasure and on the temple mount he set up an image of Olympian Zeus. He made it a capital crime to circumcise a child, read or have possession of scripture. Of course, with his defilement of the temple the normal sacrifices and worship came to an end.34
These outrages soon provoked a guerilla war against the Greeks by the devout Maccabee family and their followers. The little band was small and their provisions were scanty but their faith and devotion to their God was strong. By 165 BC the struggle was won and the temple was taken and re-dedicated. Legend holds that they managed to find only one flask of undefiled oil. With it they relit the great menorah and by some miracle it continued to burn for eight days. Today this miracle is celebrated once more and the holiday lasts for eight days. Often this holiday is called the Festival of Lights. No doubt, at this time messianic fervor was at a high pitch. Wiersbe says, “The Jewish leaders were celebrating a great event in history, yet passing by a great opportunity right in their own temple!” 35
“The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’” (10:24). When among the Jews Jesus was very tight-lipped regarding his messiahship. In Mark’s gospel this tendency is often referred to by commentators as the “messianic secret.” Bruce says, “Jesus had not so far said outright in Jerusalem that he was the Messiah…among the Jews it had political and military implications, which Jesus was careful to avoid. In this gospel he never makes an explicit messianic claim before the Jewish authorities – not even at his trial…” 36
“Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep” (10:25-26). Jesus constantly asserted that his actions verified his claims (cf. Jn. 2:23; 5:36; 10:38; 14:11; 15:24).37 The Pharisees and other leaders could not hear him because quite simply they were not his sheep. This seems a terrible thing to say about people, but in this case it was absolutely true.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (10:27-28). The man born blind had heard his voice and followed him regardless of the cost. He was the Lord’s sheep, along with many others in Israel. The Lord promises eternal life to these. In fact, the Greek verb here is in the present tense and this indicates that these people are already enjoying that eternal life.38 It is good to know that no one can take us from the Lord’s protection. The Apostle Paul says: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).
“My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (10:29-30). What a mystery we have here! The Father is greater than Jesus but they are still one. Quite frankly, this mystery is far beyond our understanding. The Jewish people, because of their long exile, had been totally purged from idolatry. Jesus’ claim to be one with God was taken by the Jews to be a most serious form of idolatry.39
C.S. Lewis once said regarding Jesus’ claim:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.40
Morris says, “John is presenting us with the last act in Jesus’ public ministry and with the Jews’ final rejection of all that he stood for.” 41 Earlier Jesus had closed out his great Galilean ministry and now he was in the process of closing out his public ministry in Jerusalem. Jesus in a sense would soon go into exile until the time of his crucifixion.
“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’” (10:31-32). Jesus’ relationship with the Jewish leaders has become critical. This is the second time that he has almost been stoned (cf. 8:59). Of course, according to Levitical law a blasphemer could and should be stoned (Lev. 24:16).
“‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God’” (10:33). As time went on many co-called Christians doubted that Jesus claimed to be God. Some still do today. However, there is no question that the Jews knew that he was making such a claim. They were prepared to stone him to death for making the claim. Pett says, “On the whole the time for reasoning with them was past. He had made clear the truth about himself and they had rejected it…” 42
JESUS ANSWERS THE BLASPHEMY CHARGE
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are ‘gods?’ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came— and Scripture cannot be set aside— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son?’” John 10:34-36
In Exodus 21:6 we read, “…then his master must take him before the judges.” The word “judges” is elohim in Hebrew and that is the word for God (cf. Exo. 22:9, 28; Psa. 82:6). So, in the Old Testament, judges who are mere men are sometimes called gods. Jesus here as in several other places accuses the Pharisees of being ignorant of their own scriptures. If judges are called gods, how could they be offended if Jesus called himself God’s Son? It was a masterful understanding and use of the scripture. Apparently, the Pharisees were dumbfounded.
Jesus makes plain that the scripture could not be broken. He had a much different understanding of the Bible than many do today. Jesus felt that every word in the Bible was important (Matt. 4:4). He made plain to the Pharisees that even a small word like “am” was of critical importance in understanding scripture (Mk. 12:18-27). Scripture cannot be broken or set aside. Even the punctuation marks are important. In Matthew 5:18 he says, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Many Christians, and especially Christian scholars, no longer look at the Bible in this way. The great Bible scholar Bishop H. C. G. Moule once said: “He [Christ] absolutely trusted the Bible, and, though there are in it things inexplicable and intricate that have puzzled me so much, I am going, not in a blind sense, but reverently to trust the Book because of him.” 43
“Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (10:37-38). The Pharisees would not believe that Jesus was who he said he was. However, they should have believed the mighty works that Jesus did before them. From the beginning of creation no one had opened the eyes of a man born blind. They saw that miracle and all the others but would still not believe.
“Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp” (10:39). It is rather amazing that the Pharisees, and no doubt the temple police as well, could not arrest Jesus. He was invincible until his proper time would come. It is likely that his enemies were fearful that the holiday crowds might riot if they laid a hand on the Lord. Still, Jesus’ Jerusalem ministry was drawing to a close. Pett says, “The summer days had passed and the chill of winter was on Jesus’ ministry.” 44
“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, and many people came to him. They said, ‘Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.’ And in that place many believed in Jesus” (10:40-42). Jesus went back across the Jordan to the area of Perea. This land, like Galilee, was also ruled by Herod Antipas, and for that reason was beyond the jurisdiction of Jerusalem’s leaders.45 This was the place where John the Baptist and Jesus had baptized in the early days (although Jesus’ disciples did the baptizing). In that area many had believed in John and it appears that many of these now put their trust in Jesus. It must have been a great relief for Jesus to see smiling faces of new believers rather than the perpetually frowny faces of the Pharisees in Jerusalem.