Jesus responds at Hanukkah to the question of his Messianic claims

In John’s Gospel Chapter 10, we discover that Jesus went to the Temple at the time when the Jewish people were celebrating the feast of Hanukkah (Jn 10:22-23). And once again, he is faced with the question: How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly?” How Jesus answers this question reveals that He spoke into the thinking and expectations of his questioners.

At Hanukkah, the Jewish people celebrated the victory of Judas Maccabee, who defeated Antiochus Epiphanes and rededicated the Temple in circa 150 years earlier. So, in the first century, their messianic hope centred around a national redeemer, someone who would deliver the people from the oppression of Rome, just as Judas and the Maccabee family had.

The Hanukkah story recounted in the intertestamental books Maccabees I & II shows Antiochus appointing high priests who would continue the destruction of Jewish worship. They were leaders from within the Jewish people who did not have the interests of God in mind.

The Roman occupation had brought a renewed interest in Hanukkah, despite Simeon, the last surviving son of the Maccabees, appointing himself High Priest and political ruler, beginning what became known as the Hasmonean dynasty. It ended when Rome put the last of them to death. However, they had no legitimacy to rule because they were not from the tribe of Judah. Even though they were a priestly family, they were not from Aaron’s line, so they were not legitimate holders of the office of High Priest either.

This why, at Hanukkah, Jesus said, “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers” (John 10:8) The situation in Jesus’ day was no different: the Roman governors influenced who became or did not become the High Priest, and under their rule, the High Priest had become a political appointment. The Romans had also installed Herod, an Edomite who had converted to Judaism, as King of Jude. Yet another false shepherd! It’s no wonder the parable that Jesus gave was so badly received by His hearers.

Jesus answer to the question of whether He was the Christ showed that he identified himself not only with the expectations of the people in their desire to be rid of their Roman oppressors so Jesus’ teaching about being the Good Shepherd was especially relevant. Jesus, more importantly, linked it to the expectations of the ancient prophets. They promised that the Lord would raise up a One who is both Shepherd and Ruler. We see this expectation and hope was held by the Chief Priest and Scribes when they explained the nature of the Messiah to Herod: Mat 2:6”’ And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

So, in John 10, when Jesus answers this question, He uses what He has just said in His teaching about being the Good Shepherd, telling them they do not believe because they are not His sheep. His hearers would clearly have understood the reference to the prophet Micah: Mic 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days Mic 5:4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now, he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

In John 10, Jesus not only claims to be the One promised by the prophet Micah but declared that He and the Father are one. (Jn 10:30) This means that when Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, He was both using and identifying Himself with both the Messianic hopes of the people and the description of God himself, who is described many times as Israel’s Shepherd Ezek 34:15 I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.

Jesus’ teaching at Hanukkah about being the Good Shepherd needs to be understood against the backdrop of Ezekiel chapter 34, where God describes his anger against those who have failed to shepherd his people wisely. Jesus had taught that he is the Good Shepherd, identifying Himself with David’s description of the Lord as His Shepherd, laying claim to God’s title of ‘Shepherd’.

Therefore, in the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus uses the theology of His day: what the Pharisees and the Teachers knew and believed, and He uses a very Jewish style of argument.

What He says relates to their understanding of the Scriptures and that of his hearers. It’s no wonder they were furious because they were called shepherds, and Jesus called them hirelings or hired hands! Even worse, He criticised their leadership and failures. Jesus was saying to the current shepherds in Israel that they are false and no more than hirelings, and even worse, He declared that all who came before Him were thieves and robbers. (Jn10:8) But it not for that they wanted to stone Him nor for His miracles which Jesus said attested to His messianic
claims.

John 10:33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus’ response to this was choose: John 10:37-38 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”

In John 10, Jesus declared Himself the true Shepherd and ruler prophesied in Ezekiel 24 and Micah 5. John wrote his Gospel to reveal Jesus as the Messiah, the Shepherd King of all Israel, who are the Flock of the Lord. Jesus then is the Shepherd King who brings into effect an everlasting covenant of peace.

Ezek 34:23 25 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd……..I will make with them a covenant of peace”.