From: John 10:31-42
Jesus and the Father Are One (Continuation)
[31] The Jews took stones again to stone Him (Jesus). [32] Jesus
answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for
which of these do you stone Me?" [33] The Jews answered Him, "We stone
you for no good work but for blasphemy; because You, being a man, make
Yourself God." [34] Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your
law, `I said you are gods'? [35] If He called them gods to whom the
word of God came (and Scripture cannot be broken), [36] do you say of
Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, `You are
blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'? [37] If I am not
doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me; [38] but if I do
them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you
may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the
Father." [39] Again they tried to arrest Him, but He escaped from
their hands.
[40] He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at
first baptized, and there He remained. [41] And many came to Him; and
they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this
Man was true." [42] And many believed in Him there.
Commentary:
31-33. The Jews realize that Jesus is saying that He is God, but they
interpret His words as blasphemy. He was called a blasphemer when He
forgave the sins of the paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8), and He will also be
accused of blasphemy when He is condemned after solemnly confessing His
divinity before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:63-65). Our Lord, then, did
reveal that He was God; but His hearers rejected this revelation of the
mystery of the Incarnate God, refusing to examine the proof Jesus
offered them; consequently, they accuse Him, a man, of making Himself
God. Faith bases itself on reasonable evidence--miracles and
prophecies--for believing that Jesus is really man and really God, even
though our limited minds cannot work out how this can be so. Thus, our
Lord, in order to affirm His divinity once more, uses two arguments
which His adversaries cannot refute--the testimony of Sacred Scripture
(prophecies) and that of His own works (miracles).
34-36. On a number of occasions the Gospel has shown our Lord replying
to the Jews' objections. Here He patiently uses a form of argument
which they regards as decisive--the authority of Sacred Scripture. He
quotes Psalm 82 in which God upbraids certain judges for acting
unjustly despite His reminding them that "You are gods, sons of the
Most High, all of you" (Psalm 82:6). If this psalm calls the sons of
Israel gods and sons of God, with how much more reason should He be
called God who has been sanctified and sent by God? Christ's human
nature, on being assumed by the Word, is sanctified completely and
comes to the world to sanctify men. "The Fathers of the Church
constantly proclaim that what was not assumed by Christ was not
healed. Now Christ took a complete human nature just as it is found in
us poor unfortunates, but one that was without sin, for Christ said of
Himself that He was the one `whom the Father consecrated and sent into
the world'" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 3).
By using Sacred Scripture (cf. Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Luke 4:1, 17) Jesus
teaches us that Scripture comes from God. Therefore, the Church
believes and affirms that "those divinely revealed realities which are
contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Holy Mother Church,
relying on the belief of the Apostles, holds that the books of both the
Old and New Testament in their entirety, with all their parts, are
sacred and canonical because, having been written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20:31; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21;
3:15-16) they have God as their author and have been handed on as such
to the Church. [...] Therefore, since everything asserted by the
inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the
Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scriptures must be
acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that
truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our
salvation" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 11).
37-38. The works which our Lord is referring to are His miracles,
through which God's power is made manifest. Jesus presents His words
and His works as forming a unity, with the miracles confirming His
words and His words explaining the meaning of the miracles. Therefore,
when He asserts that He is the Son of God, this revelation is supported
by the credentials of the miracles He works: hence, if no one can deny
the fact of the miracles, it is only right for Him to accept the truth
of the words.
41-42. The opposition offered by some people (cf. John 10:20, 31, 39)
contrasts with the way other people accept Him and follow Him to where
He goes after this. St. John the Baptist's preparatory work is still
producing results: those who accepted the Baptist's message now look
for Christ and they believe when they see the truth of what the
Precursor said: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (John 1:34).
Work done in the Lord's name is never useless: "Therefore, My beloved
brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1
Corinthians 15:58). Just as the Baptist's word and example had the
effect of helping many people later to believe in Jesus, the apostolic
example given by Christians will never be in vain, even though the
results may not come immediately. "To sow. The sower went out...
Scatter your seed, apostolic soul. The wind of grace will bear it away
if the furrow where it falls is not worthy.... Sow, and be certain
that the seed will take root and bear fruit" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 794).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.