CHAPTER X.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
This discourse undoubtedly immediately followed,
and sprang out of the conflict with the Jews related in the preceding
chapter. As Alford says: "The more we carefully study this wonderful
Gospel, the more we shall see that the idea of this close connection
is never to be dismissed as imaginary, and that our Evangelist never
passes, without notice, to an entirely different and disjointed discourse."
In the last chapter Christ had been in conflict with those who claimed
to be the shepherds of the people, the Pharisees and Sanhedrists, the
men "who sat in Moses' seat," and boasted of their knowledge of the
law of God. These professed shepherds had just cast out from their fold
a poor lamb for the crime of refusing to believe that the person who
had opened his eyes was a sinner. The last words spoken before this
chapter begins were a rebuke to these haughty spiritual shepherds, who,
while having the law and the prophets which pointed out the Christ,
the best of opportunities, and who prided themselves on their great
knowledge of divine things, still blinded themselves by their intense
prejudice and obstinate rejection of the Holy One of Israel. Hence he
continues and points out the characteristics of those who are real shepherds,
in contrast with spiritual robbers.
"I understand this lesson to be a parable with
a double application. First, Christ compares the Pharisees to shepherds,
himself to the door, and declares that those only are true shepherds
who enter through the door; that is, through Christ and his authority.
All others are thieves and robbers. Then he changes the application
and declares himself the good shepherd whose praises David and Isaiah
sung, and indicates the nature of the service that he will render unto
his sheep by giving for them his life."--Abbott.
The figure of the shepherd and his sheep is always
a favorite one in the Scriptures. Abraham, the founder of the Jewish
race, and the father of whom all Christians are children by faith, was
a shepherd, as were Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and all the
Jewish race up to the time of their settlement in Canaan. Upon the hills
of Canaan the shepherd's vocation was always a favorite employment,
and David, the great king, was called from his flocks to the throne.
It was David who sang, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want,"
and all through the Scriptures the Lord is presented in the position
of the shepherd of his people. It is Christ who is the Good Shepherd.
1. He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold. The sheepfold is a figure of the church, the door into
which is Christ. The sheepfolds of the East are large enclosures, open
to the sky, but walled around with reeds, or stone, or brick in order
to afford a protection against robbers, wolves, and other beasts [157]
of prey. There is a large door at which the
shepherd enters with the sheep. Sometimes leopards, panthers and robbers
clamber over the walls elsewhere in order to prey upon the sheep. At
the doors of the large sheepfolds, where many thousands of sheep are
protected, a porter, or doorkeeper, remains on guard, and this doorkeeper
will only admit those who have the right to enter. (See Sheepfold,
in Smith's Bible Dictionary.) All those who climb into the sheepfold
some other way than by the door are thieves and robbers.
"Those low, flat buildings on the sheltered side
of the valley are sheepfolds. They are called marah; and when
the nights are cold the flocks are shut up in them, but in ordinary
weather they are merely kept within the yard. This, you observe, is
defended by a wide stone wall, crowned all around with thorns, which
the prowling wolf will rarely attempt to scale. The nimer, however,
and the faked, the wolf and the panther of this country, when pressed
with hunger, will overleap this thorny hedge, and with one tremendous
bound land in the frightened fold. Then is the time to try the nerve
and heart of the faithful shepherd. These humble types of him, who leadeth
Joseph like a flock, never leave their helpless charge alone, but accompany
them by day and abide with them by night."--Thompson's The Land and
the Book.
2. He that entereth by the door. The one
who comes in by the door is the shepherd. The figure is very plain to
those familiar with Eastern sheepfolds. The door is for the shepherd
and the sheep, while those who get in otherwise are robbers who seek
to prey upon the sheep.
3. To him the porter openeth. The gatekeeper,
whose business it is to guard the entrance. This servant was furnished
with arms to fight off intruders, but the shepherd he would let in.
There has been much speculation what Christ signified by the porter.
The sheepfold is the church, he is the door by which all enter; he is
also the Good Shepherd; there are also the shepherds or teachers under
him who enter by the door; the saints are the sheep; those who seek
to become leaders of God's people, but have not come in through Christ,
are false leaders, thieves and robbers. It is not certain that Christ
intended to make the porter a figure of any spiritual thing, but if
so, he would represent God, who has decided who shall enter through
the door. And the sheep hear his voice. "This is true to the
letter. The sheep are so tame and so trained that they follow their
keeper with the utmost docility. He leads them forth from the fold just
where he pleases."--Thompson. The Eastern shepherds lead
their flocks, while in our country we drive them. A traveler
in the Holy Land says: "Two flocks were moving slowly up the slope of
the hill, one of sheep, and the other of goats. The shepherd was going
before the sheep, and they followed as he led the way to the Jaffa gate;
we could not but remember the Savior's words: 'When he putteth forth
his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they
[158] know his voice.'" He calleth his own
sheep by name. This corresponds exactly with the facts of Eastern
shepherd life. They give names to sheep as we do to horses, cows and
dogs. "Passing by a flock of sheep," says Mr. Hartley, "I asked the
shepherd to call one of his sheep. He instantly did so, and it left
its pasturage and its companions, and ran to the shepherd with a promptitude
and signs of pleasure that I never witnessed before."
4. The sheep follow him, for they know his
voice. "As we ate and looked, almost spellbound, the silent hillsides
around us were in a moment filled with sounds and life. The shepherds
led their flocks forth from the gates of the city. They were in full
view and we watched and listened to them with no little interest. Thousands
of sheep and goats were there in dense, confused masses. The shepherds
stood together until all came out. Then they separated, each shepherd
taking a different path, and uttering, as he advanced, a shrill, peculiar
call. The sheep heard them. At first the masses swayed and moved as
if shaken with some internal convulsion; then points struck out in the
direction taken by the shepherds; these became longer and longer, until
the confused masses were resolved into long, living streams, flowing
after their leaders. Such a sight was not new to me, still it had lost
none of its interest. It was, perhaps, one of the most vivid illustrations
which human eyes could witness of that beautiful discourse of our Savior
recorded by John."--Porter.
5. And a stranger they will not follow.
The sheep refuse to follow a strange voice. A traveler once said to
a Palestine shepherd that it was the dress of the master that the sheep
knew and not his voice. The shepherd asserted that it was the voice,
and to settle the point, he and the traveler changed dresses and went
among the sheep. The traveler called them in the shepherd's dress, but
they refused to follow him, for they knew not his voice. On the
other hand they ran at once at the shepherd's call, though he was in
strange attire. The application of this is easy. The sheep of the Good
Shepherd hear his voice, know it, and follow him. They will not listen
to the voice of a stranger who would call them away. The proof that
we are Christ's sheep is that we hear his voice and follow him.
6. This parable spake Jesus unto them.
The Greek word rendered here "parable," is not so rendered elsewhere.
The above figure is not a parable in the same sense as the term is used
elsewhere. There is not a true parable in the whole gospel of John.
This is rather a simile. Christ's hearers could not understand the application.
Hence he explains in the following verses: [159]
7. I am the door of the sheep. Verses 1-5,
speak of shepherds in general. These shepherds enter into the fold and
go out by the same door as the sheep. Christ is that door; the Door
of the sheep, the one door for all, both sheep and shepherds, into
the fold, into the company of God's people, into the church of the living
God, to the Father. There is no other way in, for "there is no other
name, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."
8. All that ever came before me are thieves
and robbers. This passage has caused much difference of opinion.
Alford holds that Satan came before Christ in Eden to sway our race,
and that the language refers to Satan and his followers. Abbott holds
that the idea is, "All who came, not entering through the door, but
claiming to be before me, having the precedence, independent of me,
are thieves and robbers." Westcott says that he refers to false messiahs
and teachers who had preceded him. I believe that the truth is to be
sought by a combination of all these views. That he does not mean in
point of time alone by "come before me" is evident because this view
would assign Moses, the prophets and John the Baptist to the class of
spiritual robbers. There was, however, the body of Jewish religious
teachers, the Scribes, the doctors and the Pharisees, who had claimed
for centuries before to be the spiritual shepherds but were "blind leaders
of the blind," "devourers of widows' houses," and these also in their
pride turned away from Christ as too lowly to receive their deference.
In point of spiritual precedence they placed themselves "before" him.
The underlying principle is that all who claim to be religious and moral
leaders and who turn away from Christ as their teacher are not real
shepherds whose aim is to save the flock, but "robbers" who wish to
prey upon it. This view includes the Jewish rabbis, the Greek philosophers,
the pretended prophets, and the "Infallible Pope." These all refuse
to bow to his authority. But the sheep did not hear them. The
true sheep. It was the goats that wandered off after such leaders.
9. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be
saved. Christ is at once the door, the shepherd and the pasture.
His pasture is the bread of life and the water of life. They who enter
by him, in the way he has appointed, are saved, and shall never be lost
if they continue to hear his voice.
10. The thief cometh not, but to steal.
All those who enter otherwise than by the door, wish to prey upon the
flock. Their object is not to save the lives of the flock, but to destroy
them. Christ came to give life, and to give it an abundant development.
False religion robs men; true religion blesses and [160]
enriches. And to destroy. The false and selfish teacher
is not only a thief who steals the substance and the opportunities of
the flock, but a destroyer. This is a universal truth that any person
of wide observation has seen illustrated too often. He destroys the
spiritual life of the flock, leads it away from the Good Shepherd, fills
it with false notions, destroys the faith that is in men's hearts, and
scatters the flock abroad until the sheep can no longer be found.
11. I am the good shepherd. This title,
applied to Jehovah in Psalm 23 and in Ezekiel 34:12, Christ here applies
to himself. The mark of the good shepherd is that he giveth his life
for his sheep. In that unsettled country the shepherd had often
to defend his flock. Dr. Thompson says: "The faithful shepherd has often
to put his life into his hand to defend the flock. I have known more
than one case in which he had literally to lay it down in the contest.
A poor, faithful fellow, last spring, between Tiberias and Tabor, instead
of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked
to pieces and died among the sheep he was defending." Thus the Good
Shepherd loves his sheep. So, too, does every faithful shepherd among
his followers.
12. But the hireling . . . . leaveth his sheep
and fleeth. It is not the bare fact of a man receiving pay that
makes him a hireling. "The laborer is worthy of his hire." He is a hireling
who would not work were it not for this hire. Such hirelings, who are
moved by self-interest alone, will abandon the flock in the moment of
danger. He only cares for his gains. Thus true and false shepherds are
distinguished.
13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling.
Because he cares for his hire, but not for the sheep. He is bound to
them, not by love, but by self-interest. When the yellow fever struck
Memphis the hireling shepherds fled to the North.
14. I am the good shepherd. The Lord does
not say that he is the only shepherd. God had in times past sent other
shepherds to lead the flock of Israel who had led it to the best of
their ability, though imperfectly, but he is distinguished from them
as the Good Shepherd. He is the "True Vine" (15:1); the "True Bread"
(6:32), as well as the Good Shepherd. The great characteristic of the
Good Shepherd is indicated in verse 11, as his devotion of his own life
to the sheep. I know my sheep. He knows every one of them, personally,
tenderly, lovingly, by name. The very hairs of our heads are numbered.
[161]
15. As the Father knoweth me. As the Father
knew the Son and the Son the Father, so is there a tender bond between
the sheep of Christ and the Good Shepherd. For them he was then giving
and would give his life.
16. I have also other sheep, not of this fold.
Not Jews, of whom all his followers then were, but Gentiles who would
soon be called to him. These would hear his voice, enter through the
door, into the same fold as the Jewish Christians, so that there would
be "one fold and one shepherd." There is only one Church and one door
into it, and one Shepherd over it.
All through the Savior's ministry there shines
forth the grand truth that he is the Redeemer of the world, instead
of a Jewish Messiah. To Nicodemus he declared, at the first passover
of his ministry, that God had sent him, not to condemn the world, but
that the world might be saved by him. At Samaria, shortly after, his
teachings so overleaped the narrow bounds of Judaism that the believing
Samaritans pronounced him "the Savior of the world." Here in no ambiguous
language he announces the breaking down of the "wall of partition" between
Jew and Gentile, and the gathering of his sheep "not of this fold" into
the same fold where his sheep of the Jewish race were gathered, so that
there would be "one fold and one shepherd." Some narrow critics have
held that Paul gave to Christianity its impulse to become a universal
religion, but not only the prophets, but the life and teaching of Christ,
from the time when John pointed to him on the banks of Jordan as the
"Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," down do
the world-wide commission given as he ascended on high, all declare
that he came to be the world's Savior.
17. Therefore doth my Father love me. The
ground of the Father's love was that Christ had given himself for man.
The Father loves those of us best who are most like Christ in this respect.
18. I lay it down of myself. His life.
He gave himself for man of his free will. He laid down his life on the
cross; he took it again when he rose from the dead. The plots of men
would have been of no avail had he not consented. Indeed his whole life
from the time his ministry began was a laying of it down. While constantly
bearing the cross he was marching straight [162]
to the cross. From the very beginning of his teaching there are
references to the death he should die (see John 3:14).
19. There was a division, therefore, again
among the Jews. In John 7:43, the division was among the multitude;
in 9:16, among the Pharisees; now among "the Jews," or ruling body.
Some were wonderfully impressed by his miracles and teachings, while
others were obstinately blind. We can hardly wonder at the perplexity
of the more honest sort when we are reminded that Jesus did not in any
respect, except power and wisdom, answer to their conceptions of the
Christ. To accept him was to abandon their national hope, and to accept,
instead, the hope of the world.
20. Many said, He hath a devil and is mad.
It was a common belief among the Jews that the agency of demons could
produce supernatural effects. See Matt. 12:24. It was a very convenient
way, therefore, of explaining the miraculous power of Christ.
21. These are not the words of him that hath
a devil (demon). No person under demoniac influence had ever taught
like Christ, and hence the better sort assert that his teachings disprove
the charge. Besides it had never been known that a demon could open
the eyes of the blind. There had been a display of a mightier power.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.
1. There is no way to the fold of God but through
Christ. Those who reject him reject eternal life.
2. Those who are Christ's disciples will hear
his voice; that is, obey him. All who live in disobedience are following
other leaders.
3. Any teacher who teaches contrary to Christ,
who sets aside his authority, or teaches falsely, is not a shepherd
but a robber. His object is to prey upon the sheep.
4. There are robbers who will destroy the sheep
and there are hireling shepherds. Robbers lead astray; hireling shepherds
are those who work for pay alone. They are mercenary men. They will
abandon the flock as soon as they can get better pay somewhere else.
5. Followers of Jesus should be like their leader
in looking beyond trial to triumph.
6. It is almost universally agreed that by thieves
and robbers we are to understand rapacious persons, intent on gain.
That most of the high priests were such persons the history of Josephus
abundantly testifies.--Bloomfield. He was teaching in Jerusalem
and the thieves and robbers were in the temple.
7. God has only "one fold," one church. The division
of the Christian world into warring sects is sinful. [163]
END OF THREE MONTHS' MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM.
An interval of more than two months passed between
the time of the healing of the man born blind and the feast of Dedication,
the date of the controversy recorded in the remainder of this chapter.
Some have held that in the interval the Lord went to Galilee and made
his last circuit of its cities. This is the view of Andrews, but I agree
rather with those who hold that his ministry in Jerusalem was continuous
from the time of the feast of Tabernacles until he retired just after
the feast of Dedication. It was a last and supreme effort to lead the
nation to salvation.
The feast of Dedication was not one of the divinely
appointed festivals, and there is nothing in the Savior's ministry to
create the idea that he would observe it, but he was in Jerusalem and
it afforded an opportunity to reach the people of which he availed himself.
The feast was established by Judas Maccabæus, in the year B. C.
164, to commemorate the purification of the temple after its defilement
by the Syrian Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes, which occurred B. C.
167. It was observed for eight days, was a patriotic observance much
like our Fourth of July in spirit, and was celebrated in all the towns
and cities of Judea as well as Jerusalem. It was instituted by the Maccabees
who were priests and of the most rigid caste, and was observed only
by the more rigid Jews; hence it is not strange that the adversaries
of Christ on this occasion display unusual bigotry.
22. It was winter. This feast came in December.
This fact is probably mentioned to explain why the Savior walked in
Solomon's porch.
23. Waked in Solomon's porch. A long, covered
colonnade, or veranda, with the roof resting on pillars. It is generally
supposed to have been in the southeast part of the temple inclosure,
overlooking the valley of the Kedron. Josephus describes it as a stadium,
or furlong, in length, and as having three parts, two of them thirty
feet wide each, and the middle one forty-five feet. Its height varied
from fifty to one hundred in different parts. He contends that it was
built by Solomon, which is, at least, doubtful.
24. Then came the Jews about him. Jesus
was in a place of public resort and an opportunity was afforded for
a decisive interview. They were determined to bring matters to a focus
and hence came and surrounded him. It must be remembered that these
were men of official station. How long dost thou keep us in suspense?
Their question represents the uncertainty and discussion that prevailed
in Jerusalem, rather than their own feelings. Their act related in verse
31, shows that they had made up their minds, but their demand that [164]
he should tell whether
he was the Christ shows the extent of the discussion in Jerusalem.
25. I told you, and ye believed not. He
had told them repeatedly (5:19; 8:36, 56, 58), not as plainly, it is
true, as he told the Samaritan woman (4:26) and the man blind from birth
(9:37), but more plainly than he ever told his disciples before the
confession of Peter (Matt. 16:16). He knew what was in their hearts
and he simply pointed them to his works, as he had done John the Baptist
when his messengers came asking, "Art thou he that should come?" (Matt.
11:2-6.) Indeed the profoundest evidence of his divinity is not his
word, but his superhuman life, teachings and works, especially the work
that he has continued to do in the world. Even if he had said he was
the Christ they would not have understood him, as their idea of the
Christ differed as far as the poles from the real Christ.
26. Ye believe not, because ye are not of my
sheep. The reason of their unbelief was not the lack of proof, but
the lack within themselves. He means, in substance, until my teachings
and examples attract you so that you will follow me like my sheep, ye
will not believe, for you cannot be convinced by purely intellectual
arguments. You cannot believe in Christ as your personal Savior until
you recognize and follow his examples as a man and prophet. It is the
one who "will do his will that shall know the doctrine, whether it be
of God" (7:17). Had they been attracted by his voice to follow him like
sheep they would have believed.
27, 28. I give unto them eternal life.
I have omitted any special study of the phrase "eternal life" hitherto,
although it has several times occurred in John. It occurs forty-four
times in the New Testament, and of these occurrences seventeen are in
the Fourth Gospel and six in the First Epistle of John, making twenty-three
instances of its use by this single author. It never means simply endless
existence, but always implies a blessed immortality. In Matt. 25:46,
it is opposed to everlasting punishment, which is endless existence
in a state of punishment, while eternal life is endless existence in
a state of bliss. The word rendered life (zoee) means, in its
primary sense, "existence" as opposed to non-existence or annihilation.
In this sense it occurs thirteen times in the New Testament, of which
(1 Cor. 15:19), "If in this life only we have hope, we are of
all men the most miserable," is a good example. It is also used in the
sense of spiritual life quite frequently and especially by John; for
instance, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." It is also
used without the adjective for eternal life as in John 5:29: "They that
[165] have done good shall come forth to the
resurrection of life," or into a blessed existence beyond the grave.
The word life, as used by John when predicated
of God, means absolute being. Man created in the image of God hath this
being from God and "in him lives and moves and has his being." A man
may have this life and yet in another sense be dead. "Let the dead bury
their dead" (Matt. 8:22), "He that believeth . . . hath passed
from death unto life" (John 5:24), "This my son who was dead is alive
again" (Luke 15:24). The usage of the New Testament sanctions the following
conclusions:
1. All humanity are endowed with existence (zoee),
nor is there any indication that this existence ever comes to an end.
At death man yields up the soul (psuchee, in classic Greek "the
breath"), the spirit (pneuma) returns to God who gave it, but
there is no indication that the existence (zoee) closes. When
Christ said, "I lay down my life," he used psuchee instead of
zoee. The same is true when he says, "He that loseth his life
shall find it." Much confusion has arisen from not distinguishing these
two Greek words of different meaning in the translation. The zoee,
(life, existence) is never said to end, or perish. It is the psuchee
(breath, or animal life), that is laid down, or perishes. Death and
destruction are not used in the sense of non-existence.
2. Life, in the sense of spiritual being, spiritual
life, is the gift of Christ, and in its origin differs from the natural
life. Those only have the spiritual life who are in union with Christ.
He is the Bread of Life, the Water of Life, and came in order to bestow
life (spiritual life, not mere existence) upon the world.
3. Eternal life is the inheritance of all who
have been born of water and the Spirit, who have the spiritual life,
and who, "by a patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honor
and immortality." It is the gift of Jesus Christ. It is a blessed immortality,
and the phrase is never applied to an existence in a state of condemnation.
The deathless angels that sinned do not have eternal life, but only
those who have been freed from sin and delivered from the dominion of
the grave by our Lord. It cannot be made too clear that eternal life
is different from and higher than eternal existence and that therefore
the fact that it is a gift does not imply that all who do not receive
this gift are annihilated beyond the grave. The rich man in hades had
existence beyond the grave but not eternal life; Lazarus, in Abraham's
bosom, enjoying "good things," had eternal life.
29. No man, etc. It has been held that
these verses teach the doctrine of the "final perseverance of the saints,"
or "once in grace always in grace." They rather teach that Christ watches
over his sheep as a good shepherd; the sheep hear his voice; none that
continue to hear his voice will ever perish, nor be plucked out of his
hand. The condition is "hearing his voice," and upon this condition
is based the promise. All who hear him shall be protected against their
own weaknesses and against the strength of assailants from without.
None shall ever fall away from want of divine [166]
grace, or the power of adversaries, but because they cease to hear
his voice. My Father . . . is greater than all. These
words are intended to give further an absolute assurance of the perfect
safety of those who hear the voice of Christ. Even the Father's hand
shall hold them, and out of his mighty hand none can pluck them. This
safety rests upon the Fatherhood of God.
30. I and the Father are one. Not my,
but the Father. Nor does he affirm that the Son and the Father are one,
but here, in the presence of these Jews, he makes the statement that
he and the Father are one, one in essence, one in purpose, and one in
person, for he uses the plural verb. Since there is a unity of purpose
and power the Father is pledged to protect the sheep that hear the voice
of the Son. He says: "My sheep shall never perish, since my Father is
greater than all, and he gave them into my hand, and I am one with him.
31. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone
him. The word "again" carries us back to chapter 8:52. These high
ecclesiasts held that he had just been guilty of blasphemy in asserting
that he and the Father are one, the penalty of which was stoning, and
they proposed to inflict it without a trial. The stones used in the
temple repairs, which were still in progress, would furnish material.
The manner in which the mob was arrested shows the wonderful moral power
of Jesus.
32. Many good works . . . for which of those
works do you stone me? In chapter 8:46 he had asked: Which of you
convinceth me of sin? Now he calls for the specifications of the crime
for which they have sentenced him.
33. For blasphemy . . . thou makest thyself
God. They reply that they would stone him for blasphemy in that
he made himself divine. This charge was often made against him. When
he said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," or spoke of God as his Father,
or said that he and the Father were one, or when on trial before the
Sanhedrim he declared that he was the Christ, the Son of God, it was
uniformly pronounced blasphemy and it was on this charge that the Sanhedrim
condemned him to death (Matt. 26:65.) Had Jesus been only a man his
words would have been blasphemous; they were appropriate to the Son
of God.
34, 35, 36. Is it not written . . I said ye
are gods. The quotation is from Ps. 82, which contains a reproof
of unjust judges: "I have said that ye are gods, and all of you are
children of the Most High, but ye shall die like [167]
men and fall like one of the princes." The argument of Christ is:
If in your law judges are called gods, and allowed to have, in some
sense, the divine characteristics, and are called children of God, why
should you pronounce me guilty of blasphemy for saying that I am the
Son of God? And the Scripture cannot be broken. This parenthetic
declaration is a very significant testimony to the inspiration of the
Old Testament. Modern theologues who deal so freely with it find no
warrant for their course in the example of Christ. Whom the Father
hath sanctified. The word sanctify means "to make holy, or to set
apart." It is here used in the latter sense. Son of God. There
is no article before Son in the Greek. Some have regarded this whole
passage as an explanation of the Sonship of Christ in a way that would
make it possible for any good man to be a Son in the same sense. If
it were the only passage in the New Testament bearing on the subject
it might be so explained, but if the circumstances are regarded, it
will be seen that there is nothing that conflicts with the statements
of his divine character elsewhere. The Jews were about to rush upon
him in a mob to stone him to death, because of his affirmation that
he was the Son of God, and one with the Father. He arrested them by
an appeal to those Scriptures that they held in such sanctity. He neither
affirms nor discusses the difference of his relation to God from those
whom the Scriptures had spoken of as gods because they were appointed
judges of men, as God is Judge of all the earth, but demands why they
should pronounce him a blasphemer for declaring that he was the Son
of God, when their Scriptures had called men gods. See Exod. 22:28 as
well as Ps. 82:6. We would not look for a revelation of the highest
truths concerning Christ's nature to an angry mob, not that he would
conceal or modify the truth to avert danger, but because they were in
no condition to receive it, and he would only present such truths as
their souls were in a condition to apprehend. For full information of
Christ's character we must look to his quiet conferences with his own
disciples. See Chapter XIV.
37, 38. If I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not. The passage just quoted from their law showed that
those who did the work assigned to them by God were recognized, as in
some sense, partakers of the divine nature. Christ, therefore, points
to his own works as a test. If he does the works of the Father, then
they should recognize in him the Sonship. He refers not to his miracles
alone, but to his whole life, the effects of his ministry, and the divine
mercy as well as power in his miracles. These works, of which they [168]
had ample knowledge, proved that "the Father
was in him, and he in the Father." If they had prejudices against his
person, they ought to consider the works without prejudice. The Father
in me, and I in him. The Father is in the Son because he lives and
moves in him; is the divine life that animates and controls the man
Jesus; he is in the Father because a full partaker of the divine nature,
filled with the divine will, purposes and desires, and animated by the
one thought of doing the Father's work.
39. They sought again to take him. Not
to stone him, for their passion had cooled, but to arrest him. His escape
was not probably due to miracle, but with many friends among the throng,
he could readily withdraw through their aid. "They dared not stone him,
but as he was alone and defenseless in their midst, they tried to seize
him. But they could not. His presence overawed them. They could only
make a passage for him, and glare their hatred upon him as he passed
from among them. But once more, here was a clear sign that all teaching
among them was impossible. He could as little descend to their notions
of a Messiah, as they could rise to his. To stay among them was but
to daily imperil his life to no purpose. Judea was, therefore, closed
to him, as Galilee was now closed to him. There seemed but one district
to be remaining in his native land which was safe for him, and that
was Perea, the district beyond the Jordan. He retired, therefore, to
the other Bethany (Bethabara), the Bethany beyond the Jordan, where
John had been baptizing and there he stayed."--Farrar.
This ends three months of stormy ministry in Jerusalem.
Twice there were attempts to mob him (8:59; 10:31); twice efforts to
arrest him (7:32, 45; 10:39), and in addition secret plans for his assassination
had been laid (7:19; 8:37). John is the only historian of this eventful
period of the Savior's life, though several incidents reported by other
writers may belong to the interval.
40. Went beyond Jordan . . where John at first
baptized. For the time the Lord retired before the threatening storm.
His "hour had not yet come," and would not until the passover, three
months in the future. In this region, where John had done his work of
preparation so thoroughly, a more friendly reception might be expected.
41, 42. Many resorted to him. This Perean
ministry was fruitful for "many believed on him," this being due to
the fact that "all things John spake of this man were true." [169]
What were the incidents of this last stay, or
the exact length of its continuance, we cannot certainly know. We see,
however, that it was not exactly private, for John tells us that many
resorted to him there, and believed on him, and bore witness that John--whom
they held to be a prophet, though he had done no miracle--had borne
emphatic witness to Jesus in that very place (John 1:28), and that all
which he witnessed was true.--Farrar.
In the other Gospels a number of incidents are
recorded which are supposed to belong to this ministry beyond the Jordan.
An example of these is found in the Savior's teaching upon the subject
of divorce, found in Matthew 19:1-12.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Christ and the Father are one; not one in person,
but indissolubly blended in spirit, purpose, will and work, so much
so that he that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father. This fact, that
"he and the Father are one," is the basis of his prayer that all his
followers shall be one, "even as he and the Father are one." Upon this,
Maurice forcibly says: Do you think sects would last for even an hour,
if there was not in the heart of each of them a witness for a fellowship
that combinations and shibboleths did not create and which, thank God,
this cannot destroy? The Shepherd makes his voice heard through all
the noise and clatter of earthly shepherds; the sheep hear his voice
and know that it is calling them into a common fold where all may rest
and dwell together; and when once they understand the still deeper message
which is uttering here, "I and my Father are one;" when they understand
that the unity of the church and the unity of mankind depends on this
eternal distinction and unity in God himself, and not on the authority
or decrees of any mortal pastor, the sects will crumble to pieces, and
there will be in very deed one flock and one Shepherd.
[NTC3 157-170]
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