Jesus at Hanukkah

11/14/2021 - Dave Riddle

Key Passage: John 10:22-42

Festival of Dedication / Festival of Lights

A hostile group surrounds Jesus

John 10:22-24
- How long will you trouble our souls?
- Are you the Messiah?
Are you going to be like or great ancestors who freed us from a tyrannical empire?
- Like the Maccabees they were celebrating.

You don‘t have the faith to see what is plainly in front of you.

My sheep? I know them and they follow me.

John 10:27
- Incredible comfort for those who follow Jesus
John 10:28
- Eternal life (a statement not merely of quantity, but of quality)
John 10:29-30
- Jesus doubled down on the security of his followers.
  - No one will, and no one can, snatch us from his hands.
  - We love this message but how did the hostile crowd respond?

They picked up stones

John 10:31
- An illegal act, but not without precedence.
They were highly motivated.
- There wouldn’t have been stones readily accessible at Solomon’s colonnade

“For which of these good works are you stoning me?”

John never did a miracle… but everything he said about this man was true.

He’s got us in his hand

He knows us and loves us

He is the Son of God

We want to be people who bear witness to WHO he is.