“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…”

Rancor is an old word that really describes contemporary society, especially around election time.  It’s related to rancid, which means an awful smell coming from decaying or rotting material.  If that doesn’t accurately describe our culture today, I don’t know what does.  Civil discourse seems to be long gone.

It was that way in Jesus’ day too, which was highly politicized like ours.  Pharisees regularly had it out with Sadducees.  And the Sanhedrin had to do damage control every time a theological skirmish would break out lest the Romans clamp down even more so than they already had.  So when Jesus entered this combustible culture, you wouldn’t even need a match to get things burning!  After Jesus had spoken about him being the good shepherd and laying down his life repeatedly in John 10, the result was not only mixed, but radically skewed: “Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.  And many of them said, ‘He is demon-possessed and raving mad.  Why listen to him?’  But others said, ‘These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” (vs. 19-21).

So when the holidays rolled around, it was more of the same, only more intense.  In the later half of his third year of ministry, Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, in the winter (10:22).  By this time he was extremely popular, but the masses were clearly divided.  His followers clearly outnumbered his critics, but the latter were dangerous because they wielded political and cultural influence and power.  They were looking to get rid of him any way they could, but they had to do it carefully less they initiate the downfall of Israel as a result of getting rid of Jesus.

So as he strolled along the sheltered east side of Solomon’s Colonnade where it was warmer, some Jews asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Christ [i.e., the Messiah], tell us plainly” (v. 24).  Boy, talk about a loaded question!  It doesn’t get any more point blank than that.  But such a closed-ended question never fazed Jesus.  It would only get worse in the months ahead.  And while he didn’t exactly give a yes or no answer, he was surprisingly clear and direct in response.

“I did tell you, but you do not believe.  The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…” (vs. 25-28a).  He told them previously he was the Messiah, and points to two witnesses to confirm it as the Law (Deuteronomy 19:15) required: miracles and the Father, neither of which they could deny.

In his response Jesus also gave perhaps the clearest description of why he came: to give eternal life (John 17:2) to those he called his sheep.  They are the ones who “listen to [his] voice” (vs. 16, 27), his way of saying ‘believe in what he says that results in them following him’.  Clearly, this crowd in the Colonnade wasn’t a part of his flock.

But the picture of eternal life got even clearer: “no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (vs. 28b-29).  I like to picture it this way.  I cup one hand and say, “Jesus has us in his hand, and no one can snatch us out.”  But then I cup my other hand as the Father’s hand and put both cupped hands together, and then say, “OK, we’re in Christ’s hand and the Father’s hand.  If I had a marble or a coin in my hand, could anyone quickly take us away from that secure place?  It would take prying and wrenching to get us, and that is why Jesus implied this was impossible because, “My Father is greater than all”.  Who is strong enough to pry God’s hand open?

But even more than a picture of eternal life, Jesus’ description is a statement of deity.  Who is in charge of salvation anyway?  Who decides how it is obtained?  Who decides who receives it?  See, it is only in God’s sphere and domain and power.  For Jesus to speak in such a way was to answer his critics, those outside his flock.  Do you listen to his voice and follow him?  Are you one of his sheep?