Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Portico.^[1]  Religious leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe (πιστεύετε, a form of πιστεύω).”^[2]  They did not think it was true; they were not persuaded.^[3]  The deeds (ἔργα, a form of ἔργον)^[4] I do in my Father’s name testify (μαρτυρεῖ, a form of μαρτυρέω)^[5] about me.^[6]  The ἔργα that Jesus did in his Father’s name testified that He is the Christ, as opposed to those who loved the darkness rather than the light, because their ἔργα were [full of labours, annoyances, and hardships].^[7]

But you refuse to believe (πιστεύετε), Jesus continued, because you are not my sheep.^[8]  The word translated refuse is simply οὐ,^[9] the absolute as opposed to the relative negation in Greek.  You believe not, Jesus said, because you are not my sheep.  They were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”^[10] 

My sheep listen (ἀκούουσιν, a form of ἀκούω)^[11] to my voice, Jesus continued.^[12]  This is in contrast to those who had not been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven:^[13]  For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear (ἀκούουσιν) nor do they understand.^[14]  And Paul wrote, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they?  Absolutely not!  But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.^[15]

Still speaking of his sheep, Jesus said, I know (γινώσκω, a form of γινώσκω)^[16] them, and they follow me.^[17]  These are they who are called according to [God’s] purpose, because those whom he foreknew (προέγνω, a form of προγινώσκω)^[18] he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.^[19]

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.  The Father and I are one.^[20]  Then by their actions the religious leaders proved Jesus’ original words, that they did not believe that his deeds testified that He was the Christ.  They picked up rocks again to stone him to death.^[21]  I have shown you many good deeds from the Father, Jesus said.  For which one of them are you going to stone me?^[22]  We are not going to stone you for a good deed, the religious leaders answered, but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God.^[23]

They lacked the knowledge that was revealed to Peter by Jesus’ Father in heaven:^[24] You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.^[25]  They did not share Nathaniel’s insight that Jesus was the Son of God and the king of Israel.^[26]  Apparently the religious leaders assumed that the Christ would serve their interests as they perceived their interests not supersede them, certainly not question their leadership.  “Is it not written in your law,” Jesus answered them, “‘I said, you are gods’?  If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”^[27]

There is a lot to say about this turn in Jesus’ argument.  I hope to get to it in time.  For the moment I want to highlight Jesus’ heart.  In the heat of debate he did not ask the religious leaders to believe that He was a new species of human being, born of the flesh of Adam through his mother Mary and born of the Spirit of his Father.  He simply referred to those instances in the book of Exodus where human judges, those entrusted to judge according to God’s law, were called elohim, gods.^[28]  If God called Israel’s judges gods, He reasoned, is it right to “say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

If I do not perform the deeds (ἔργα) of my Father, Jesus continued, do not believe (πιστεύετε) me.^[29]  And here again He revealed his heart.  But if I do them, even if you do not believe (πιστεύητε, another form of πιστεύω) me, believe (πιστεύετε) the deeds (ἔργοις, another form of ἔργον)…^[30]  Though he had hardened them so that by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles,^[31] though we live by faith, not by sight,^[32] though it is a true and trustworthy statement that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,^[33] face-to-face with his beloved adversaries Jesus encouraged them to trust their sight, the deeds they saw Him accomplish, so that you may come to know (γνῶτε; another form of γινώσκω) and understand (γινώσκητε, another form of γινώσκω) that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.^[34]

This was essentially what Jesus said to the messengers from John the Baptist when they asked, “‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”  At that very time Jesus cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits, and granted sight to many who were blind.  So he answered them, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.  Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”^[35]

The religious leaders tried unsuccessfully to seize Him again.  Jesus, however, continued performing the deeds (ἔργα) of [his] Father (John 11:1-4 NET).

Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.  (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)^[36]  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.”  When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

“Lazarus, come out!” Jesus said to the corpse that had laid four days in its tomb.  The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”^[37]  “We have a law, the religious leaders said, and according to our law [Jesus] ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”^[38]

Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, John concluded, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are recorded so that you may believe (πιστεύητε; another form of πιστεύω) that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing (πιστεύοντες; another form of πιστεύω) you may have life in his name.^[39]  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, John wrote (or Jesus said) but that the world should be saved through him.^[40]