John 10:31-42

Jeremiah 20:10-13

Psalm 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

John 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.

Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.

For which of these are you trying to stone me?”

The Jews answered him,

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.

You, a man, are making yourself God.”

Jesus answered them,

“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?

If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,

and Scripture cannot be set aside,

can you say that the one

whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world

blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;

but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,

believe the works, so that you may realize and understand

that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Then they tried again to arrest him;

but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan

to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.

Many came to him and said,

“John performed no sign,

but everything John said about this man was true.”

And many there began to believe in him.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you offer me the gift of divine adoption. I do not deserve this great gift. Your love for me is so great. Help me to correspond to your love and live as your child.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Jesus’ Works and Signs: In response to their attempt to kill him, Jesus asks the crowd a legitimate question: “I have shown you many works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?" They answer that his works are not the problem. However, his claim that he is the Son of God and therefore equal to God is a huge problem. For them, this was blasphemy, which, according to the Law of Moses, should be punished by stoning (Leviticus 24:16). Putting Jesus to death is a constant theme in the Gospel of John. Sometimes these attempts follow his works or signs. Jesus cures the paralytic on the Sabbath and we read: “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Jesus multiplies the loaves, and once again: “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him. ... Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him” (John 6:66; 7:1). The chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest Jesus (John 7:32), but no one laid hands upon him (John 7:44).

2. Attempts to Kill Jesus: Since the officers and the crowds are being swayed by Jesus’ words and doctrine, the scribes and Pharisees try to trap him by having him contradict either himself or Moses (John 8:6). Jesus avoids their trap and teaches openly that he is the Son of God (John 8:42). The response is to try to stone Jesus: “So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59). Today’s Gospel takes place at the Feast of the Dedication, during winter, and a couple of months before Jesus’ last Passover. Jesus proclaims once again that he is the Son of God: “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me” (John 10:25); “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The response is the same: “The Jews took up stones again to stone him” (John 10:31). Jesus will escape from them, for his hour had not yet come.

3. Jesus’s Signs and the Act of Faith: It is important to understand the relation between Jesus’ signs in John’s Gospel and the act of faith. The works that Jesus does manifest that he is mighty in power. First, he has command over physical things: he turns water into wine and multiplies the loaves of bread. Second, he has command over sickness: he cures the official’s son from a distance; he heals the paralytic; he restores sight to a man born blind. Third, he has power over death: he will raise Lazarus from the dead. These are divine actions and signs that point to something. The signs do not of themselves lead to faith. The act of faith is a free act of man. The signs testify to Jesus but are not mathematical demonstrations. Another stepping-stone on the way to faith in Jesus is the testimony of John. John did not perform signs like Jesus. He simply preached a baptism of repentance and prepared the way for the Messiah. John testified that Jesus is the Light, the Lamb, the Bridegroom, filled with the Holy Spirit, and mightier than John himself. Faith in Jesus means assenting to the truth that he is the Son of God, equal to the Father. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are mighty in your works and invite me to believe in you. I believe in you and your words of everlasting life. You are my savior and redeemer, you are my king and my Lord, you are my life and my resurrection.

Living the Word of God: We are called today to renew our faith in Jesus, who continues to work marvels in our lives and in the life of the Church. Signs and testimony point us in the right direction and confirm the stirring in our hearts. This is the action of grace moving us to faith in Christ, to hope in his promise of eternal life, and to love both God and neighbor.