The Gospel according to John (10:22-30)
The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem.
It was winter.
And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,
“How long are you going to keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe.
The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.
But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”
Reflection:
I was just thinking of the various words or phrases we have in English to show that we are not speaking plainly. There is “beating around the bush”, or there is equivocating or, a really fancy word, “obfuscating”. Clearly, these leaders of the Jews were thinking that Jesus had been doing one of those things, in regard to their questioning of Jesus being the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ.
Jesus really never said that He was the Messiah to the Pharisees. He did reveal Himself that way to the woman at the well, and to the man born blind, but not to the authorities. Instead, Jesus expected them to come to that conclusion, based on His teaching and His actions. So, was Jesus “obfuscating”?
I’m reminded of being in school and taking a class where the textbook had various exercises we were supposed to complete (remember? “okay, class, do the even numbered exercises on page 150”). The book would have “selected answers” in the back, and which exercises were those? Not the even ones, I’ll tell you. I can’t recall for sure, but I’m sure I longed for the teacher to assign us the even numbered ones, so we could see what the answer was!
I mention that, because the Pharisees here in today’s Gospel were asking Jesus to give them the answer from the “back of the book”. Was He “obfuscating”? Well, it could be said that He was, but what He really was doing was forcing these leaders of the Jews to use their vast knowledge of Scripture and of prophecy and come to the same conclusion. They could really only come to one conclusion – they just did not like that what conclusion was.
We may think that God “obfuscates” when we, His children, ask Him for answers. We should not do that! Instead, we should recognize that we often are asking about things about which we only have incomplete knowledge. God giving us the “answer” won’t necessarily help us out, because we don’t have the whole picture. Instead, let us pray that God give us patience to wait on Him for His answer, and faith that He alone has that “whole picture”, and that His way is always the right one, even when it may not look like it. Being able to see things that way is something that we will have to work our entire lives to try to achieve!
Action for the Day:
Are you feeling like God is not speaking plainly to you about something you’ve given to Him in prayer? Take time today and ask for those two things I mentioned: patience, that you be willing to wait on the Lord for His answer, and faith, that you be willing to accept that God’s answer, even if it doesn’t seem direct, is the right one, and He alone has the view of it all. I know those words are easy to say and hard to follow, but ask God to help you! He won’t fail to answer that prayer!
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