²² Then came the Festival of Dedication [Hannukah] at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's Colonnade. ²⁴ The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”
‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’
Thoughts
- Disordered Love (22–24) The religious leaders wanted a Messiah who would serve their purposes: someone who would deliver them politically, and advance their national hopes. They weren't asking, “Who are you really?” but “Will you be the kind of Messiah we want?” They reveal a deeper problem that we often share: disordered love (Augustine of Hippo). We often come to Jesus wanting him to fix our circumstances, protect our comfort, or fulfill our plans, rather than surrendering to who he actually is. We can subtly demand that God make sense to us on our terms before we will trust him. But as C.S. Lewis writes, He’s good but he isn’t safe. We often confuse a meek Jesus with a safe and manageable Jesus. If God were to show us the full picture of our lives—including the suffering, the unknowns, and the cost of following Him—we would be paralyzed with fear. ➤ Jesus does not owe us complete explanations. He calls us to trust Him, even when we do not understand the full plan.
- His Firm Grasp (25-29) Jesus offers his sheep double security: they are held both in his hand and in the Father’s hand. We belong to his flock (Psa 95:7), and once God has taken hold of us, no one can snatch us away (Isa 43:13). And because we are united to Christ by faith, what belongs to the Son now belongs to us in him. The Good Shepherd does not lose his sheep. Their safety is not ultimately grounded in their own consistency or grip, but in their union with the Son who is perfectly one with the Father. ➤ Our security does not rest on how tightly we hold onto Jesus, but on how firmly he and the Father have taken hold of us.
- The True Older Brother (30) When Jesus declares, I and the Father are one, he is revealing the true, eternal relationship that exists between the Father and the Son, the very relationship the father in the parable longed to share with his older son. In Luke 15 the father says, “My son, you are with me always, and all I have is yours,” yet that son remained distant in heart. Jesus, however, is the true older brother. He has always been with the Father in perfect unity, sharing his glory, his work, and his love without rivalry or separation. He is the eternal Word who was with God and was God (Joh 1), the radiant image of the invisible Father (Heb 1), and the one who upholds all things (Col 1). Unlike the older brother who served with resentment, Jesus obeyed the Father with joy and willingly laid down his life for the sheep. ➤ In him the fullness of the Father’s love and glory is perfectly revealed.
Reflection
- How might you be relating to God more like the older brother in Luke 15, dutiful and resentful, rather than resting in the joyful security that comes from being united to Jesus, the true Older Brother who is perfectly one with the Father?
