The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary by Ridderbos Herman

Author:Ridderbos, Herman [Ridderbos, Herman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0802804535
Publisher: Eerdmans Publishing Co - A
Published: 1997-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10:22-39

Final Dialogues with "the Jews"

22,23 These dialogues with "the Jews" take place on the feast of the renewal or dedication of the temple, which lasted eight days and kept alive the memory of the restoration of the temple under Judas Maccabeus on Kislev 25, 165 b.c., after its desecration by the Syrians. The feast was celebrated in the manner of the Feast of Tabernacles.356 Apparently it did not have the importance of a great pilgrim feast like Passover and Tabernacles.

Apparently, Jesus was still in or near Jerusalem rather than where he was in 7:2ff. Mention of the feast again accentuates the fact that in these chapters the central focus is Jesus' confrontation with the Jews at the center of Jewish life. There is, however, no clear relationship between the feast and the content of the dialogues in vss. 29-39.357 "It was winter," Kislev 25 falling in December, and mention of that fact marks for the reader unfamiliar with this feast the progression of time between the Feast of Tabernacles in ch. 7 and the Passover of Jesus' death. That his confrontation with the Jews is moving to an end is also clear from vs. 24. Some expositors link "it was winter" with the spiritual climate or say that it explains Jesus' stay in Solomon's portico, a walled space on the east side of the temple affording protection against the cold (see, however, Ac. 3:11; 5:12). But both explanations seem far-fetched. Such local and temporal indications, as also in 8:20, etc., furnish proof, rather, of how the memory of certain historical situations was perpetuated in the tradition.

24 Here again it is "the Jews" who come to Jesus and gather around him. Abruptly they ask him the question that has been in the background of all their disputes with Jesus (cf. 7:28,31,4 1ff.; 9:22). Now they demand an answer. They charge that Jesus is keeping them (their "soul") in suspense358 by letting them guess his intent, namely whether or not he is the Christ. Their question is reminiscent of what the high priest in the Sanhedrin asks Jesus in Mt. 26:63; Lk. 22:67.359 It is based, both here and there, on the fact that Jesus did not claim publicly to be the Messiah, which corresponds with his refusal in the Synoptic Gospels to allow people to call him the Messiah or make him known as the Messiah (the so-called messianic secret, Mk. 8:30 par.; cf. Mk. 1:34; 5:43; 7:36; 9:9). Such a rumor would have led only to false conclusions and false expectations (cf. Jn. 6:14, 15) because the people and apparently also their leaders had messianic expectations other than those Jesus met (cf. 7:31, 41ff.). Still, the way in which Jesus spoke of his relationship to God as his Father was such that the thought of him being the Messiah, the Redeemer and Ruler promised by God, almost had to take root.

25, 26 Jesus answers that the cause of their negative attitude toward him is not the vagueness of his self-revelation but their own unbelief.

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