As we pick up the narrative in chapter ten, we find Jesus speaking. However, it is not immediately clear to whom Jesus is speaking. It might be easy for us to assume that the dialog is continued from the previous chapter where Jesus is speaking to his disciples and the Pharisees who are with him. In that instance, at the end of chapter nine, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of the Tabernacles. The entirety of chapter nine took place on the eighth day or 'The Joy of the Torah', an additional holiday following the feast of Tabernacles.
It was on that day that Jesus mysteriously escaped being stoned. It was on that day that Jesus healed the blind man. It is all recorded at length, the pool of Siloam, the hearing in which the newly sighted man is questioned, and not only himself but his parents as well. At the end of all that, the man was approached by Jesus. Jesus identified himself to the man and the man worshiped him. We see no objection to this worship – and I mention this because Jesus traveled not only in the company of his disciples but there were certain of the Jews traveling with him as well.
It is at the end of the chapter, when Jesus contrasts being sighted and being blind that the Pharisees in his company ask him if they too are blind. The dialogue beginning in verse one of chapter ten seems to jump from blindness to the matter of who is the true leader of the sheep – the shepherd or the hirelings.
To bring clarity to this issue, I point to verse twenty-two, “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” Some two months later, we find Jesus speaking on a specific topic. Two months are missing from the account but we find Jesus in Jerusalem among people who want him dead. I ask, therefore, had Jesus gone back home to Galilee for a while? Did Jesus return to Jerusalem because of the holiday? I am inclined to think so. I have hinted at the possibility that Jesus was the Rabbi at a synagogue in Capernaum. Many of his disciples, also, lived and worked in that area.
So, Jesus is in Jerusalem and it is the winter. Is that only mentioned because of the feast? Many people would have known that the dedication feast was in the winter. The gospel of John is not specifically written for the gentiles – so, why make a point of the winter? He is in a city during cold weather. There is at least a possibility that the dialogue found at the beginning of chapter ten is, to a certain degree, an indoors account. No disciples are mentioned, no milling multitudes here, just Jesus talking to 'the Jews.'
Now, we already know and are well aware that when the author of this gospel uses the word 'Jews,' he is speaking of religious authorities. He is speaking of the elders of the synagogues, the Pharisees and Sadducees, of Priests and Rabbis and Doctors of the law. Many of these same people would have had their turn in the Sanhedrin.
Jesus spoke to the Jews, as it is my assertion that he was one of them. The evidence is plain. Jesus seemed always to be in their company, often invited into their homes, often addressed as a Rabbi, and regularly taught in synagogues, more specifically, in the synagogue of Capernaum. I will not go much into the content of his words, here, except to point out that the matters he broached were specific to the Jews rather than to the masses. When he spoke of sheep, he spoke about the masses. When he spoke of shepherds and hirelings, he spoke of those who managed the masses. When he spoke of thieves and robbers, he spoke of those who used the masses for personal advantage and gain.
Part of the conversation between Jesus and the Jews occurred on Solomon's Porch which was the architectural feature that partially enclosed the inner walls of the temple in the location of the Women's Court. It was in this general location, once before, that Jesus was nearly stoned.
That is the general picture at this point in chapter ten. Jesus is explaining to his peers the power and authority God has given to him. He is explaining to what and to whom that commandment applies. Jesus plainly states that he has been given power the Jews do not possess. He has been given the power to lay down his life. Well before his crucifixion, the Jews were made aware that Jesus walked toward his own death and of his own volition. It was not in their power to take his life but, rather, it was a matter that Jesus orchestrated with precise deliberation.
Jesus also explained that he was empowered to resume his life again after death. Well before his resurrection, the Jews were made aware that Jesus would rise from the dead. They were made aware that his plan for death and resurrection was enacted for the people whom he asserted were much maligned by the present authorities. Jesus asserted that the people, his sheep, had been abused by those in charge – who used the people for personal advantage, like thieves and robbers and who, like hirelings, fled before the enemy.
Consider for a moment the type and degree of managerial truths that Jesus imparted, truths that were specific to those who filled positions of leadership. Jesus had been in this situation before – trying to bring around his peers to a more nearly personal sense of responsibility. We know that in some of those other situations, the Jews argued with him, railed on him, called him names, sought his death. We know that not all of the Jews were against him. Some followed him and believed what he said. There had been divisions among the Jews before and we find here, in chapter ten and verse nineteen, this very telling statement: “There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.”
At this point, we might expect to see the Jews up to their old tricks. Did they argue, did they rail on him, call him names as they had before? No. At this point in the relationship between Jesus and the Jews, we see a different response altogether. We see a more cohesive and fraternal response. We see something in verses twenty through twenty-three that looks very much like a meeting among the Jews as they argue among themselves. Some say that Jesus is mad, that he has a devil. Some maintain that opening the eyes of the blind is not something that devils do. They refer to the incident just two months prior when Jesus sent the blind man to the pool of Siloam.
What we see is a closed-door meeting of the minds while Jesus waits just outside on the Porch of Solomon. “Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.” Was he by himself? Did he pace? The waiting came to an end. The Jews surrounded Jesus as he stood in Solomon's porch and this was their response. 'If you are the Christ, tell us so in plain words. How long will you keep us in suspense, making us wonder and doubt?'
How long indeed? He had given his testimony on multiple occasions – that is to say, he had been among his peers on multiple occasions telling them, the Jews, the same things again and again. On all occasions, there was a number of the religious elite that refused to believe what he said. All they saw was a man like themselves but a man they felt had lifted himself above acceptable expectations, a man who had become too big for his britches. The answer they got was that he had told them already; he had told them and they refused to believe. They had refused to believe because they were not his sheep and did not hear his voice. In his response, the Jews could only hear a common man making himself out to be God. According to the law, as they maintained it, that was blasphemy. They took up stones again to stone him. Among those polished blocks and slabs of stone, among those colonnades, I have to ask, where could they find stones? Was the women's court unfinished and rocky?
So, there they stood, stones in hand but they did not act. Was it just so much posturing? Were people ever stoned inside the temple compound? Without flinching, Jesus asked them for which of his good deeds they wanted to see him die. In other words, Jesus had proved himself to them often with works from God like healings and driving out demons, things the Jews did not and could not do. In answering his question, the Jews proved the point they could not get their heads around – that a man could claim to be equal to God. That was just too much for them.
They did not try to stone him but they did try to apprehend him. That particular stretch of wall in the temple contained the eastern gate. Jesus avoided capture and left Jerusalem. How did that happen? Did he dart out through the gate and blend immediately with the crowd? Were his disciples waiting to whisk him away? Whatever transpired, Jesus traveled to the area where he had been baptized by his cousin John. He stayed there for a time and many believers resorted to him there.
The distance from Jerusalem to the accepted site where John baptized Jesus is roughly seventy-one and a half miles. I once walked that approximate distance and it took me three nights and two days. There would have been lodging nearby in the city of Beit She'an, which was one of ten cities in the Decapolis. There were also Pella and Bethabara on the eastern side of the Jordan.
At the baptism, Jesus was asked where he stayed. He answered, come and see. Here may have been friends and supporters who took him in both then and again when he returned in chapter ten. The residents of the area well remembered John. They also accepted the fame of Jesus, as they said in verse 10:41, “John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.” Obviously, John had said more about Jesus than is recorded. The pivotal point of their belief was the fact that Jesus had performed miraculous things. The crowds gathered.
Did Jesus camp out with his disciples or did he reside in one of the nearby towns? Remember, it was winter. This information comes from www.giltravel.com: Winter (Dec-early Mar) Israels winter weather fluctuates. Some winters are mild and sunny, while some are severe and overcast. There’s often heavy rain. In January and February, it may even snow in parts of the country. Temperatures range in the 50-60F (10-15C) in most places, but in the 40’s (5C) in Jerusalem and the Galilee hills – where it can be very cold at night.
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