I and the Father Are One – John 10:19-42

Jesus tells a parable in Matthew (Matthew 18:12–14) and Luke (Luke 15:3–7) about one sheep among a flock of 100 who wanders away and is lost, and how that shepherd goes in search of that lost sheep and rejoices at finding it.  Jesus is relying on his listeners’ belief that a sheep, even just one of many, is precious to the shepherd and the shepherd will do anything to recover one that is lost from the flock.  This is, he wants us to know, just how much God cares for and protects us.

Again a division erupted among the Jews about Jesus’ teachings.  Many were saying of him, “He has a demon and is insane.  Why listen to him?”  Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of a demon possessed person.  A demon isn’t able to open the eyes of the blind.”

The time for the Feast of Dedication came in Jerusalem, it being winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the Colonnade of Solomon.  The Jews surrounded him and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”  Jesus answered, “I told you and you did not believe.  The works I do in my Father’s name, these bear witness to me.  But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep.  My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.  And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one thing.”

Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him.  Jesus told them, “I’ve shown you many good works from my Father.  For which of them do you want to stone me?”  The Jews said, “We don’t want to stone you for good works but for blasphemy, since you, a man, make yourself out to be God.”  Jesus answered, “Isn’t it written in the your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’?  If God called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be broken, then the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, can you say he blasphemes, just because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?  If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe in me.  But if I am doing them, even if you don’t believe in me, believe the works, so that you may really know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

So they sought again to arrest him, and he slipped through their hands.  He left again for the region of the Jordan, to the place where John first baptized and he remained there.  Many came to him and said, “John didn’t perform any signs, but everything John said about this one was true.”  And many believed in him there.  (John 10:19-42)

The power of Jesus’ sabbath miracle, healing the man born blind, is beginning to create division among the leaders of Israel.  How can a man with a demon open the eyes of the blind?  But unbelief persists.  Jesus has made it clear he is the Messiah, but you have to be part of his flock to believe, to know his voice.  If you aren’t a sheep you keep hardening your heart to the facts.  But the sheep will be protected from perishing as both the Father and the Son keep them.  You cannot lose your salvation.

But when Jesus says he and the Father are one thing (the word “one” is in the neuter gender), he is saying he is equal to his Father, so the Jews are ready to stone him for blasphemy.  Jesus tries to help them accept this difficult reality by pointing out that in Psalm 82 God’s leaders can be called “gods” in that they represent Yahweh and stand in His authority over the people.  If they can be called gods how much more Him whose works evidence deity.  But they want to arrest him all the more, so he leaves.  Away from Jerusalem many come out to him convinced by his miracles and his testimony that he is the Christ. 

Jesus’ statement, that he and the Father are one thing, is very precise.  He does not use the masculine form of the word “one,” which could imply that he and the Father are one man, one person.  He and the Father are different persons, but they are one thing, one nature, one essence.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three different persons who share the same essence or nature.  They are each equally divine, the one and the same God or deity, but yet three separate persons making up the Godhead.  And as such, each is fully capable of keeping those who come to them for salvation.  No one, not even the saved person himself, can snatch them from God’s hand.

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever known someone who was demonized, and if so, how did they act and speak?
2. Why can’t some of the Jewish leaders reconcile the idea of Jesus being demon possessed?
3. Why does Jesus say these leaders cannot accept him, believe in him, as the Messiah?
4. Who are the only people who become Jesus’ sheep?  How would you know you are a sheep of Jesus?
5. If you don’t feel secure in your salvation, could you be secured nevertheless?
6. What would it or should it mean to you to know that you are forever secured in God’s hands and cannot be taken from His love and care, ever?