Christ Derangement Syndrome: An Exposition of John 10:22-42
Jesus Christ is without question the most controversial person who has ever lived. He has been a source of conflict and division. But Jesus even said this about Himself. The result of His ministry would be that two would divide against three and vice-versa. No one has been the object of such devotion by some and the object of violent hatred and derision. But this was just as true in Jesus’ day as it is now.
The passage we are studying is set up by verses 19 through 21. The Jewish people we divided about Jesus. Many thought He was a demon possessed maniac. Others saw a disconnect with this. How could a demoniac speak such lofty words? Could a demoniac open the eyes of the blind? This group was at least open to faith. The former was totally blinded by their prejudices and rage. This is the work of Satan. There was indeed a divide here about Jesus. He was not the divider but was rather the object of division. The first group would need to be radically transformed if they were to be saved at all. But the emphasis of the Gospel of John deals with the doubting Thomas’s rather than outright unbelievers. Doubt if left unaddressed leads into the downward spiral of skepticism, despair, unbelief, derangement, death and eternal judgment. But doubt if properly challenged can be the window to faith as well.
This morning’s passage picks up with a new location. It is in a sense the outworking of what Jesus had said about being the Good Shepherd and the Door. In a wider context, this section of John begins with the healing of the blind man in chapter 9 which Jesus turns on the Pharisees to show what true blindness is. Here Jesus goes on to demonstrate what it means to be part of His flock as well as the implications of belief or unbelief.
Jesus shows up in the Porch of Solomon at the Temple. This is where rabbi’s assembled to teach their disciples. Jesus would not have been on the “approved” list of teachers who were allowed to teach there, but as Jesus is really the owner of all things including the Temple, He comes there anyway. John tells us two other details. First of all, it was the Feast of the Dedication. This feast is not in the Protestant canon of the Old Testament as the feast was established after the close of the canon in about 400 BC. It was occasioned by the desecration of the Temple under the Greek Emperor Antiochus IV on December 25, 165 BC who sacrificed a pig on the altar to Zeus. A revolt ensued, and after a bloody conflict, the Jews regained their autonomy. They cleansed the Abomination of Desolation from the Temple and rededicated it, but they had a limited amount of oil for the lamps. A one day supply lasted for eight days. This is still celebrated today by the Jewish Hanukah.
The light in the Temple represented the presence of God there. It is God who gives light. This light has an inner and outer aspect to it. We have the physical light of the sun as well as enlightenment. John, from the very beginning of the Gospel tells us that Jesus is this light, the very presence of God. Jesus Himself says: “I AM the light of the world.” So, this detail here that it was at the Feast of the Dedication is important. So is the other detail that it was winter. It was at the shortest day of the year. It was a time of the maximum darkness. Metaphorically, the scene is framed by light and darkness. People were in doubt about the person of Jesus. They would either turn to the Light or the darkness.
Verse 23 says that Jesus was walking around in the porch. The Greek actually uses the present tense “is walking.” This use of the historical present is designed to draw you into the scene and makes you a participant. The Greek word does mean “walk” in the physical sense of walking. But there is a philosophical use of “walk” as well. The Greek philosophers were called “Peripatetics” which is based on the Greek work “to walk.” The Hebrews have literature called “Halacha” which comes from the word for “walk” as well. We refer to our discipleship as “the Christian walk.”
The text then says that the “Jews” encircled Him. John often uses “Jews” in a negative light, applying it to the corrupt leadership in Israel. No doubt, some of these were there, but the context seems to indicate that this term is broader as it includes what we would call “seekers” today as well as opponents. They persisted in asking Him not to speak in riddles. “If YOU are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” they demanded. Some said this that they might accuse Him, but others were more sincere.
Jesus now tells them: I have already said this, yet you do not believe!” Unbelief, then, blinds people from the truth. Also, our prejudices blind us. We see this constantly in His disciples. An example of this was at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus tells the disciples that He was going to be rejected and suffer, Peter rebukes Jesus sharply. “This will NEVER happen to you!” Jesus who had just told Peter that the Holy Spirit had just inspired Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, now attributes this statement to Satan. Whether we are blinded by rejection or by our false presuppositions about Jesus, we are, nevertheless, blind.
Jesus goes on to add that it is not just the words He has spoken which should be heard. His works which He had done in the name of the Father also testify to the truth. Some of those in the crowd were in suspense. They were open to evaluate these claims. They could see the logic but had not yet come to faith. But Jesus goes on to castigate those who were closed to this. Verse 26 uses a strong adversative “but.” “But YOU will not believe because you are NOT My sheep.” The evidence of word and deed should have resulted in belief. But instead it was being rejected. The reason Jesus gives is that they are not His people. When we understand who Jesus is, then we see that faith defines who is and who is not a Jew. Those who reject Jesus become part of Hosea’s “not my people.” Those who believe become children of the living God.
A lot of controversy has erupted in the church over the doctrine of free will as over against predestination. Again, the words of Jesus are the source of heat and not light. The words of Jesus are not heat, but it is something within us that turns the light into heat. The problem is not what Jesus says or does. The problem is in us. I don’t want to go too deep into this controversy, but let this be sufficient. Whatever choice we have is based first upon the choice God made. There would be no choice at all except for this. God is under no obligation to save anyone. He has the right to condemn us all and consign us to eternal hellfire. The fact that the Son became Incarnate and dwelt among us makes whatever choice we might have possible. Let us think more about the choice God made. The other thing is that Jesus tells us that His sheep hear His voice. If you are not listening to His voice, you are not His sheep. Hearing is closely tied to obedience in Hebrew as well as Greek thought. It is more than hearing words.
This obedience of faith is taught throughout the New Testament. It is not intellectual assent. It means to walk with Jesus, to follow Him, to be His disciple. James reminds us of the emptiness of a faith that is not demonstrated in action. Salvation is not a little deal we make with God in which we go through a little ritual to pay our eternal fire insurance. This is not biblical faith. True faith follows Jesus. “ MY sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
It is to the followers of Jesus that the promise of eternal security is given. Jesus says that He gives them eternal life and no one is able to seize them from His hand. And if no one can take the believer from Jesus, how much more can they not seize them from the Father’s hand who has given these sheep to the Son. Let the one reading this beware of a mere ritual assent. The promise of eternal life is reserved for those whom Jesus calls His sheep and not for those who call themselves “sheep.” We must come to Jesus on His terms and not ours. We have no right at all to shortcut salvation. We must realize that salvation is entirely the gift of God and is based on His grace. He sets the terms.
Now Jesus makes another controversial statement. “I and My Father are One.” Is this a claim to equal divinity. Scholars today are deeply divided over this. They note that “one” is neuter and not masculine in the Greek. This would mean that they were in total agreement rather than one in being. This has led to disputes over the person of Jesus. Is Jesus just a perfectly obedient Son? This would subordinate the person of Jesus to the Father. But one just needs to look at the reaction of the Jews to understand that this is not correct. The Jews took up stones to stone Jesus. Jesus says to them: “I have done may good works which have come from the Father. For which of these works are you trying to stone ME?” The response of the Jews was that it was not because of His works, but rather because of blasphemy. “You, a mere man, are making yourself God!” At another time they saw Jesus’ claims as “making Himself equal with God.” Again, Jesus could not be more plain about His person. It is unbelief which blinds.
Jesus replies by quoting from the Psalms. He tells them Scripture cannot be broken. “Ye are gods” He quotes. He applies the term to those to whom the word of God came. The use of this psalm is also controversial. It is interesting to note the full context of the verse: “You are gods, you are all children of the Most High.” But you shall die like mere mortals.” The Word of God had come in a unique way, becoming Incarnate in Jesus Christ. The one who is fully and equally God is also fully and equally man. And He would soon die as a man for the sin of the world so that those who would believe on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
In verse 36, Jesus reiterates his special relationship. If the prophets by whom the word of God came can be called “gods,” how much more the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How can the Jews claim that Jesus was speaking blasphemy when He was honoring the Father by speaking the words he was sent to speak and doing the works that no one had ever done to this degree in the Father’s name? If Jesus was other than who He is, then, indeed, His words would be blasphemy. Rather, these words confirmed by His works should lead them to belief rather than unbelief.
Then Jesus makes another bold and controversial claim. The works prove that Jesus was in the Father, and the Father was in Him. The Greek is interesting here in that the word “know” or “understand” is repeated. First we have the aorist subjunctive followed by the same word in the present subjunctive. The translation has the idea of “come to know and continue to know that in ME is the Father and also I am in the Father. To know is more than head knowledge of a very difficult to understand philosophical concept. This is an invitation to Christian faith, to come in relationship to the Father and the Son. This will be more explicitly stated in Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17. It draws us to unity in the church to be one even as Jesus and the Father are totally united. In a sense, this is an answer to the “one and the many” problem with the Greeks who tried to explain the relationship to unity and diversity. They thought that unity only could occur at the total loss of diversity. The Christian faith says we can be both totally united as well as being distinct individuals. We do not lose identity and our spirits are not absorbed back into God upon death where we no longer are conscious of who we were before. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God in three persons, perfectly united, yet have distinct identity.
Verse 39 shows that the Jews thought that Jesus was making divine claims for Himself and they made an attempt to seize Him. Back in chapter 6:15, they tried to seize Him and make him king. Now they wanted to stone Him. If one does not believe His message, then what He spoke was blasphemy which demanded stoning. Jesus would die, all right, but not by stoning, not on their clock, nor for blasphemy, but rather for the sin of the world as the Lamb of God. To disbelieve Jesus will lead to violent rejection of Him. The Jews were becoming deranged.
But not all. Jesus withdrew from the situation and went over to the other side of the Jordan. This is where John had earlier baptized. It is also the place where the Israelites had crossed the Jordan to enter into the promised land. Those who would enter into the tru promised land must do so through Jesus. The first Jesus (Joshua) had brought them into Palestine. But Moses saw a far greater land from Mt. Nebo just before his death. This is the inheritance the second Joshua, Jesus of Nazareth, will take all who believe on Him.
Apart from the heat of battle, people had time to evaluate the claims of Jesus. They kept on coming to Jesus and were reasoning that John the Baptist had done no miracle, but everything the Baptist had said about Jesus was true. Even in death, the voice of the Baptist still speaks. John could smile down from heaven to see that because of his witness, people were coming to Christ. And they were believing on Him. No greater eulogy can be given than that a man or woman lead people to Jesus. Sometimes we don’t see the full fruit of our labor in this life. We should live and bear witness in such a way that our testimony outlives our mortal bodies.
We live in a deranged world today. In the United States, we see it in something which the world calls “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” This is where people shut their ears to listening and evaluating what he is saying. Now I want to make this point abundantly clear. The Bible says clearly that we should honor and respect our leaders. It also says that God raises them up and sets them down according to His purpose. But having said this, we must realize there is an ocean of difference between Donald Trump and Jesus Christ. It can be rightly said that some of the President’s supporters are somewhat deranged in their blind support of him and his policies. We cannot apply statements made by Jesus or about Jesus in the Scripture to anyone else. This would truly be blasphemy. Let us, of course, pray for the President and offer godly advice to him. Let us not be disrespectful. But the President is not the cause or the object of the derangement which is named after Him. The derangement in this nation is because we in the most part have rejected the rule of Christ. When we reject the knowledge of God, He turns us over to a deranged mind. So says Paul in the first chapter of Romans. This derangement affects our morals, our economy, and even the operation of our government.
Christians are called to think and reason and not just to react emotionally. The object of our thinking needs to be centered in Jesus Christ. We are not called to leave our minds at the door. Jesus wants us to know, and this requires thinking and a willingness to learn. It is in the world that we are expected to leave our minds at the door and follow earthly leaders. This is an invitation to let ignorance become the chains of our captivity. Instead of blind rage and prejudice, we must instead, think. Some in this crowd tried to think, but their voices were drowned out by the rage and hate. If they had time to put two and two together, they would have believed on Jesus. This is not to say that anyone comes to clear thinking other than by the Holy Spirit. We are saved entirely by grace. We are not saved by works. Neither are we saved by the works of our intellect.
People are still trying to figure out who Jesus is. When they try this apart from the rubric of faith, they will always get it wrong. Some see Jesus as the perfect example of pacifism. Others see Him as the great liberator. Some see Him as a Capitalist and others as a Socialist. Some see Him as a great teacher and others as an apocalyptic madman. We try to understand that we might believe. But Anselm says it differently: “I believe that I might understand.” The Christian message makes perfect sense and is coherent once one first believes. The unbelieving world simply can not understand. So we as Christians are told by Peter to be always prepared to give an intelligent response to those who ask us about our faith. If they don’t believe, they will fall into varying degrees of derangement. But if they do believe you have saved a soul from hell.
