Browse Bible Study Resources

Daily Devotions

John

John 
Day 
Day 140

An appeal to reason correctly

Text: John 10 : 22-42

AN APPEAL TO REASON CORRECTLY

Jesus was not afraid to be examined by anyone concerning His doctrines. Anybody could come up to Him and ask Him to explain Himself! The Jews certainly tried to make it hard and awkward for Him every step of the way. Nevertheless, Jesus did not hold this against them.

What the Jews needed to do was to reason deeply and correctly. He attempted to teach them how they could reason better.

“If I do not do the works of My Father,
do not believe Me.
But if I do, though you do not believe Me,
believe the works,
that you may know and believe that the Father
is in Me, and I in Him.”
John 10:37-38

The Jews must have been embarrassed by what Jesus said. This was the most basic of reasoning patterns. Let’s attempt to enumerate what Jesus was seeking to highlight in this text.

1. The reference to the works of Jesus

John was aware of course that Jesus had performed many wondrous miracles. However, in his Gospel, he highlighted just a few of those miracles, or “works” as Jesus preferred to call them.

a) There was the healing of the nobleman’s son. John 4:46-54
b) There was the healing of a paralytic. John 5:1-16
c) There was the feeding of the 500. John 6:1-14
d) There was the healing of the man born blind. John 9:1-7

How would the Jews interpret these mighty works of Jesus? Had they even attempted to fathom the significance of these mighty works? Apparently not!

Jesus argued that His mighty works might be thought of as “the works of (His) Father”. His Father was working in and through Him. Had the Jews considered this line of reasoning? Apparently not!

The Jews had thought that He had a demon in him and thus he was able to perform these mighty works. Yet, this reasoning fell flat because it was impossible to conceive that a demon could or would do such good things for mankind!

2. Believe at least the works of Jesus

The Jews had great difficulty believing in the Person of Jesus! How could anyone believe that a Man could also be God? This line of thought was beyond them!

Jesus urged them to break free from the shackles of their limited human wisdom. What was impossible for man was not impossible with God!

If the Jews really wanted to believe in Jesus, they could. If they were to give the works of Jesus due consideration, they would be able to employ their reasoning faculties in such a way that they could end up with faith in Him.

What did the works of Jesus represent? How did Jesus perform those mighty miracles so effortlessly? Surely the Jews had overlooked an important consideration. They had not considered this possibility,

“…that the Father is in Me (Jesus) and I (He)
in Him (The Father)”
John 10:38

THE UGLY BUT VAIN RESPONSE OF THE JEWS

Jesus had foiled their attempt to stone Him in public. He had disarmed the Jews by His reasoning. The Jews knew that He had spoken openly so that the crowds could hear Him.

The Jews would now not be able to stone Jesus. They themselves might be stoned to death by the crowds for attempted murder.

Although the stoning attempt failed, that did not mean that the Jews had exhausted all avenues of dealing with Jesus. John noted another ugly but vain attempt to deal with Jesus.

“Therefore they sought again to seize Him,
but He escaped out of their hand.”
John 10:39

This was not the first attempt to arrest Jesus. On another occasion, The Jews sent Temple officials to arrest Jesus.

“Therefore they sought to take Him,
but no one laid a hand on Him,
because His hour had not yet come.

Then the officers came to the chief priests
and Pharisees, who said to them,
‘Why have you not brought Him?’
The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke
like this Man!'”
John 7:30, 45-46

TENDING OTHER SHEEP

Jesus wisely decided that He would stay away from Jerusalem for the time being for obvious reasons. It was not out of fear that He stayed away. He had a ministry to fulfill. He had other sheep that He must tend. Many became His sheep as they listened to Him. They heard the voice of the Shepherd and recognized Him as their Shepherd.

“And He went away again beyond the Jordan
to the place where John was baptizing at first,
and there He stayed. Then many came to Him
and said,’John performed no sign, but all the
things that John spoke about this Man were true.’
And many believed in Him there.”
John 10:40-42