It
was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.
John 10:22-26
John 10 [19.] Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?”
John 10 [22.] It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
John 10 [25.] Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. 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. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10 [31.] Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
Meaning:
Some weeks have passed since the Feast of Tabernacles and the healing of the man born blind. Jesus is again in Jerusalem, and the leaders surround him with a demand: tell us plainly whether you are the Christ. His answer exposes the real problem. They do not lack information; they lack faith.
- The Feast of the Dedication:
As the PIB footnote explains, this is the feast now known as Hanukkah. In 167 BC the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the temple, stopped the sacrifices and set up a pagan altar, events many see foretold in Daniel: “they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate” (Daniel 11:31). Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a revolt, recaptured Jerusalem and rededicated the temple in December 164 BC. The eight-day festival, also called the Feast of Lights, remembered that deliverance.
The setting is significant. At a feast that celebrated a military liberator and the cleansing of the temple, people longed for a new deliverer. Jesus, who had called himself “the light of the world” (John 9:5) and spoken of his body as the true temple (John 2:19), stood among them.
- “It was winter … in Solomon’s porch”:
Solomon’s porch was a long covered colonnade on the eastern side of the temple courts, a sheltered place to walk and teach in the cold, rainy season. After the resurrection the first believers gathered there, and “all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s” (Acts 3:11). Some readers also see a hint in the word “winter”: the hearts of Jesus’ questioners had grown cold.
- “How long will you hold us in suspense?”
The leaders “came around him,” closing in on him. Their question sounds sincere, but the following verses show that they were ready to stone him (John 10:31). The title “Christ,” Messiah, carried strong political hopes. When a crowd had once tried “to come and take him by force, to make him king,” Jesus withdrew (John 6:15). He would not let himself be squeezed into their idea of a national liberator. At his trial he gave a similar answer to the same demand: “If I tell you, you won’t believe” (Luke 22:67).
- “I told you, and you don’t believe”:
Jesus had not hidden who he was. He had spoken of himself as the bread of life, the light of the world, the door and the good shepherd, and he had said, “before Abraham came into existence, I AM” (John 8:58). More than that, his works spoke for him: “the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). The healing of a man born blind was a clear witness.
- “You are not of my sheep”:
Their unbelief is not caused by lack of evidence but reveals where they belong. Sheep know their shepherd’s voice (John 10:4). Jesus had told them, “He who is of God hears the words of God” (John 8:47). The next verses describe what it means to be his sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
The Significance of John 10:22-26
- Faith, not more proof:
Many still ask for plain proof while ignoring the evidence already given. Jesus has spoken and acted. What is needed is a heart willing to hear and follow.
- Jesus on his own terms:
People often want a Christ who fits their own hopes and plans. Jesus refused to become that kind of Messiah. We are called to receive him as he really is, the Son sent by the Father to save, not to serve our agendas.
- The comfort of belonging:
Those who hear his voice are his sheep. If you trust him and follow him, you can be confident that you belong to his flock.
Cross-References:
Daniel 11:31: "they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering" The desecration that led to the Feast of Dedication.
John 5:36: "the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me." Jesus’ works as witness.
Luke 22:67: "If you are the Christ, tell us." The same demand at his trial.
John 8:47: "He who is of God hears the words of God." Why some do not believe.
Conclusion: At the Feast of Dedication, in Solomon’s porch, the leaders demanded that Jesus tell them plainly if he was the Christ. He answered that he had already told them and that his works testified for him, but they did not believe because they were not his sheep. The passage calls us to stop demanding more proof and to hear and follow the Shepherd’s voice.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible