Jesus at the Feast of Dedication

During the Feast of Dedication, Jesus walks in the temple courts and is asked to state plainly whether he is the Christ. He answers that his works testify, his sheep hear his voice, he gives eternal life, no one can snatch them from his hand or the Father’s hand, and he and the Father are one.

A²²t that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵“I already told you,” Jesus replied, “but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify on My behalf. ²⁶But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. ²⁷My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

The Jews pick up stones, and Jesus points them to his works from the Father. They accuse him of making himself God, and he answers from Scripture, from the language of sonship, and from the works themselves before they try again to seize him.

³¹At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him. ³²But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?” ³³“We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, make Yourself out to be God.” ³⁴Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken — ³⁶then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God? ³⁷If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. ³⁸But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.” ³⁹At this, they tried again to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp.