“I and the Father are one” (10:30) is another way of saying, “I am God.” Now, if you met someone on the street who made such a statement, you’d probably just dismiss his or her claims, assuming they sprang from some sort of insanity. That’s the conclusion to which some of Jesus’ listeners came (10:20).

But Jesus isn’t Someone Who can just be ignored or dismissed. After all, He did amazing miracles of healing, including giving sight to a man who had been born blind (10:21). His supernatural power thus has to be explained, and there are really only two possible sources – Heaven or Hell. He was either possessed by demons, or He was filled with the Spirit of God. How can we know which is right?

Jesus Himself invited us to examine His works (10:32), and went so far as to say that if He wasn’t doing things that were according to the Father’s will, we shouldn’t believe Him (10:37). So, what did Jesus do? He healed people. He fed the hungry. He taught the Word of God. He even cast out demons. None of that sounds particularly demonic.

On top of such obviously godly actions, John the Baptist had plainly testified that Jesus was not only the Lamb of God, but the Son of God (1:34-36). And many of the people of his day realized that John had been telling the truth (10:41) – that’s why they believed in Jesus (10:42).

So, how can we come to right conclusion about Jesus? Here’s the good news: the Father Himself helps us hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him (10:27). And He is the One Who holds us in His hands, and makes sure that we inherit eternal life (10:28). So, let’s trust God to help us see Jesus for Who He really is, and to place our trust only in Him.

John 10:19-42 (ESV)

19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
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.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came– and Scripture cannot be broken–
36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 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.”
39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.