Feast of the Dedication

Chapter 69
JOHN 10:22-39
Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Dedica­tion, which falls in December, in the winter. While He was walking in the Temple court, a crowd gathered and began to question Him, pressing Him to say plainly whether or not He was the Christ, the Messiah. In response Jesus said:
"I tell you and you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of My Father, these bear witness concerning Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me. And I give them everlasting life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. What My Father has given Me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch anything out of the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one."
His listeners thereupon took up stones to stone Him, ston­ing being the traditional punishment for blasphemy. But Jesus continued:
"Many good works have I shown you from My Father. For which of these works do you stone Me?"
Stolidly, the Jews replied, "Not for a good work do we stone Thee, but for blasphemy, and because Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God."
Then Jesus questioned them again:
"Is it not written in your Law, 'I said you are gods'? If he called them gods to whom the word of God was addressed (and the Scripture cannot be broken) do you say of Him whom the Father has made holy and sent into the world, 'Thou blasphemest,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not perform the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do perform them, and if you are not willing to believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in the Father."
The Jews were not satisfied with this answer, however. They again attempted to seize Jesus, but He escaped from them and crossed the Jordan into Perea.
None is so blind as he who will not see. The Jews were not disposed to believe Christ's doctrine because they had deliberately set their wills against whatever He would have to say. Such spiritual blindness, self-inflicted, is to be feared. Very often we interpret some teaching of the Church the way we wish to see it and not as it actually is. Am I at variance with the Church on any point of her doctrine?

Part VI

THE LAST MONTHS

In December of the year 29, Jesus returned to Jeru­salem for the Feast of the Dedication, which com­memorated the reconsecration of the temple by Judas Machabeus. His preaching brought accusations of blas­phemy from the leaders of the Jews; when they attempted to seize Him, He escaped to Perea, the territory across the Jordan. He preached for several months in the Perean towns, traveling north as far as the Decapolis, where He crossed the Jordan again and journeyed south through Samaria. The healing of the ten lepers is assigned to this period, as well as some of the most familiar parables, such as the Prodigal Son, the Unjust Steward, the Pharisee and the Publican, and the Laborers in the Vineyard. Early in March He was again in Perea, where He received a mes­sage from Bethany asking Him to cure Lazarus, who was at the point of death. Lazarus was already dead when Christ reached Bethany, but He proceeded to the tomb and brought him back to life, a miracle which brought popular belief in His Messiahship to its highest pitch and resulted in the decision of the Jewish leaders to destroy Him. After a two-week retreat in Ephrem, in the Judean desert, He went up to Jerusalem for the Passover, travel­ing via Jericho, where He healed two blind men and related the Parable of the Gold Pieces, and Bethany, where His anointing by the sister of Lazarus took place.