Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
The confrontation belongs not long before the raising of Lazarus, when Jesus claimed His oneness with the Father as the Son of God, and the Jews charged Him with blasphemy and madness and took up stones to kill Him. In that moment He pointed to the many good works He had shown from the Father as evidence of His divine mission and identity as the beloved Son, and asked for which of those works they stoned Him. His works from the Father, together with His presence, testified to who He was, and He stood calmly and without fear as He made the appeal.
The good works were works of mercy for the relief of the afflicted, including the Sabbath miracles, together with pure and holy teachings and condescending love that reached men where they were, such as eating at their tables. He did them not independently but by the Father's power in cooperation with the Father by faith and prayer. They testify to His relationship with the Father, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and He wants all to know that relationship and believe that the Father sent Him. At the tomb of Lazarus He openly met the charge of Satanic power by calling God His Father and declaring with perfect confidence that He is the Son of God.
The attempts to stone Him happened several times, yet each time He quietly withdrew so they lost sight of Him. When sought for speaking truth He was protected by angels and enabled to escape, so His opponents could not stop His work. The Pharisees and Sadducees, united by opposition, refused His testimony, perverted it, and kept trying to ensnare and provoke Him with subtle questions to condemn Him. They turned His Sabbath works into a pretext to condemn Him as a Sabbath-breaker, attributed His miracles to Satan or a demon, and refused to acknowledge the Son and recognize God's power in His mighty miracles while crying up the law and the Father and crying away with the Son.
Their hatred was driven by His exposure of hypocritical pretensions, tearing aside rigorous rites that hid moral deformity, condemning hollow piety by pure religion, and giving pointed rebukes. For His condescending love and great mercy they hated Him more, called Him a winebibber, and wished to destroy His influence. This rejection was Satan's special effort to separate the Father and the Son, blinding the eyes of the Jewish nation so they were unable to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as the only one who had power to give them life. Yet those who witnessed His merciful works and heard His holy teaching knew that He was not a Sabbath-breaker or blasphemer.
The confrontation belongs not long before the raising of Lazarus, when Jesus claimed His oneness with the Father as the Son of God, and the Jews charged Him with blasphemy and madness and took up stones to kill Him. In that moment He pointed to the many good works He had shown from the Father as evidence of His divine mission and identity as the beloved Son, and asked for which of those works they stoned Him. His works from the Father, together with His presence, testified to who He was, and He stood calmly and without fear as He made the appeal.
The good works were works of mercy for the relief of the afflicted, including the Sabbath miracles, together with pure and holy teachings and condescending love that reached men where they were, such as eating at their tables. He did them not independently but by the Father's power in cooperation with the Father by faith and prayer. They testify to His relationship with the Father, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and He wants all to know that relationship and believe that the Father sent Him. At the tomb of Lazarus He openly met the charge of Satanic power by calling God His Father and declaring with perfect confidence that He is the Son of God.
The attempts to stone Him happened several times, yet each time He quietly withdrew so they lost sight of Him. When sought for speaking truth He was protected by angels and enabled to escape, so His opponents could not stop His work. The Pharisees and Sadducees, united by opposition, refused His testimony, perverted it, and kept trying to ensnare and provoke Him with subtle questions to condemn Him. They turned His Sabbath works into a pretext to condemn Him as a Sabbath-breaker, attributed His miracles to Satan or a demon, and refused to acknowledge the Son and recognize God's power in His mighty miracles while crying up the law and the Father and crying away with the Son.
Their hatred was driven by His exposure of hypocritical pretensions, tearing aside rigorous rites that hid moral deformity, condemning hollow piety by pure religion, and giving pointed rebukes. For His condescending love and great mercy they hated Him more, called Him a winebibber, and wished to destroy His influence. This rejection was Satan's special effort to separate the Father and the Son, blinding the eyes of the Jewish nation so they were unable to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as the only one who had power to give them life. Yet those who witnessed His merciful works and heard His holy teaching knew that He was not a Sabbath-breaker or blasphemer.