Year 5, Day 258: John 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Capacity

• Capacity asks whether or not the person has the time in their life to obey God.

I find Jesus’ question to the religious leaders haunting.  “I have done many good works from the Father, for which of these are you going to stone me?”  Jesus lays the truth before them plain and simple.  He has come and demonstrated His power again and again.  He turned water into wine.  He fed a tremendous crowd with only a few fish and a small amount of bread.  He healed a blind man.  In every single one of these instances the focus was neither on the miracle nor on Jesus’ reputation.  Each of these acts happened so that the power of God might be put on display and He might receive the glory.

The religious leaders are blind to this reality, however.  They ask tell Jesus that they will stone Him because of His blasphemy.  The truth is, they just do not have the capacity within them to believe.

As I finish this passage, I have to ask myself why they do not have the capacity to believe.  I don’t actually know the answer to this question.  But I can take a few guesses.  Yesterday I made the case that they were seeking the approval of the people around them.  I have often spoken on this blog about the religious leaders’ desire to retain power and status in Jerusalem.  I think these are excellent reasons to explain their lack of capacity.

However, I think that the Gospel of John brings out yet one more huge dynamic: pride.  To follow Jesus would imply that they didn’t know everything.  To hear Jesus would imply change.  To adhere to Jesus’ teaching would mean that they might have to admit that they had made some mistakes.  They weren’t willing to do that.  They didn’t have the capacity for change.  Because of their prideful incapacity for change, they also have a natural incapacity for following Jesus.

This makes me wonder about myself.  Where am I prideful and unwilling to change?  Where am I so stuck in my human tradition and human understanding that I will be deaf to God’s Word of truth in my life?  where am I no different than the religious leaders with respect to my capacity to be obedient to the Lord?

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