In this passage the religious leaders are going to say to Jesus, “Tell us plainly if you’re the Messiah or not.” And Jesus’s reply is essentially, “My works testify to who I am.” In other words, it’s this basic principle that actions speak louder than words. And, of course, the same is true for us, as followers of Jesus Christ. Our greatest witness to the Gospel and Faith we proclaim is not just what we say, but what we do. So, to begin, let’s look at the context
If you’ll remember from last week, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath. The man is brought before the religious leaders. They ask who healed him. He says, “Jesus.” And, this starts a debate as to whether Jesus is from God or a sinner. Is Jesus good or not? And you see from this passage, that debate continues, right? “Again, the Jews (that is, the religious leaders) were divided…Many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?’ Others were saying, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” So, this is the set up for the rest of this passage.
Later on, in the year, during the Festival of Dedication (what we know as Hanukah), Jesus is walking along Solomon’s Porch. The religious leaders gather around him and say, “‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” And Jesus responds, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me…” So, they want Jesus to say the words, “I am the Messiah.” And, of course, he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t come right out and say to them, “I am the Messiah.”
As you probably know, Jesus rarely comes right out and tells people he is the Messiah. In John’s gospel, the only one he tells is the woman at the well. In the other gospels, when Peter makes the great confession that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus immediately instructs his disciples to not tell anyone. This is what is referred to as the “Messianic Secret.” For reasons we aren’t explicitly told, Jesus generally refuses to just come right out and say, “I am the Messiah.”
But, to be clear, up to this point in John’s gospel, Jesus has said plenty about who he is. He has said enough that the religious leaders should have known he was the Messiah. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, in John 5:22-24 Jesus says to the religious leaders, “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. Anyone who does not honor the Son, does not Honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life…” So, not only does he identify himself as the Son of God, and the One whom the Father sent, but also says that anyone who believes in him has eternal life. Another example, John 6:38, “…for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” Here, Jesus is saying he came down from heaven and it was the Father who sent him.
One more example. In John 8, Jesus tells the religious leaders that Abraham rejoiced that he would see the day that Jesus came. Then he says, Abraham has seen it and was glad. Starting in 8:57, “Then the Jews (religious leaders) said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” Here, not only does Jesus say that he existed before Abraham, but he uses the divine Name, “I am.” “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
So, what has more force, for Jesus to say, “I am the Messiah,” or for Jesus to say, I am the Son of God, sent from heaven, I existed before Abraham, I am the great “I Am” and if you believe in me you have eternal life? If the religious leaders can’t get on board with all of that, simply telling them he’s the Messiah isn’t going to change a thing. And, the reality is, every time he says those kinds of things to them, they pick up rocks to stone him to death or they start planning for a way they can put him to death. So, simply telling them “I am the Messiah,” isn’t going to satisfy them.
And this gets to the main thrust of what Jesus is saying here when he says to the religious leaders, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me…” Essentially he’s saying, I’m not going to tell you I’m the Messiah, look at what I’m doing, look at my works, they speak on my behalf. Jesus doesn’t go around telling people he’s the Messiah. Instead, he makes a point of revealing who he is through what he does and what he teaches. His works testify to who he is. And, I’ll just say as a side-note, people who come to faith do so by learning who Jesus is, That is, they spend time in the scriptures and in prayer and in church hearing the proclamation and this is how the come to know him, because it is through his works, including the cross and resurrection, that he is revealed.
And the fact that the religious leaders can’t see the good in what Jesus does (like healing the man born blind) and the fact they can’t see his connection to the Father, their spiritual blindness testifies against them, as Jesus makes clear in this passage when he says they’re not his sheep. If there was any group that should have recognized Jesus for who he was, it was them. They had access to the scriptures, they had the training, and one would think they had the connection to God that should have allowed them to see.
When Jesus says, “I and the Father are one,” part of what he’s saying is that the works he does are the works of God. Instead of the religious leaders glorifying God, they become enraged. Never have they been so close to God, right? Jesus is standing right there; the kingdom of God is at hand. And yet. they are so far away. It really is heartbreaking. And, personally, I take it as a fair warning to not be presumptuous. It’s a reminder, to me, to be humble. God was doing a new thing right there among them and their pride in thinking they understood God and how God works kept them from seeing God in Christ.
At any rate, Jesus embodies this idea that actions speak louder than words. He relies on what he does to testify on his behalf. And, going back to that metaphor from last week of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and his followers as his sheep, in this passage Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” His sheep follow him, that is, they do as he does. Later on, Jesus makes this explicit.
In Ch. 13:15 Jesus says, “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” In vss. 34-35 he says, “I give you a new commandment that you love on another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.” So, just as Jesus lets his good works testify to who he is, his follows also let their good works testify to who it is they follow.
In his commentary on this passage, Brian Stoffregen tells about a short story he came across. The title of the short story was “Whom Should You Ask?” In the story an Amish farmer was approached by a very enthusiastic young evangelist. And this young man asked the Amish farmer if he was saved, if Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior? And the farmer replied, “Why are you asking me that? I could tell you anything.” He said, “If you want to know about my faith, go ask my banker. Go ask my farm hands.” In other words, he’s saying go ask those who know how I live and what I do. That’s a bold thing to do, to rely on the witness of others to testify to his faith. But, like Jesus, he is letting his good works testify on his behalf.
Let me close with one last thing. There is a word of encouragement in the passage that I don’t want us to miss. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Paul says the same thing at the end of Romans 8 when he says there is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God, not life, not death, nothing that is happening right, nothing that will happen in the future. There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. In a time of so much uncertainty, the one thing we can know, the one thing that does not change, is that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ. May you be blessed in knowing God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.
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