Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 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 in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus. (John 10:31–42 NIV)
Jesus faced the antagonism of many of the movers and shakers of his day. The religious leaders did not care for his message or his actions. They attempted to test and trap and confound Jesus. In these attempts, Jesus often took their questions and words and turned them back on the questioners. When the tactics of the religious leaders did not work, they began to desire to physically harm Jesus and kill him. What was likely unsettling to them was how, in these times, Jesus calmly faced their threats, even as they moved against him. All this happened in very public settings, with those attracted to the message and actions of Jesus nearby.
At that time, one of the ways to harm and kill someone was to stone them. John 10 recounts one of the times the religious leaders wanted to do this to Jesus. As they picked up stones to kill him, Jesus publicly asked them which of the good works he had done was the reason they going to stone him. Jesus did not only give the message of the forgiveness of sins and of the grace of a new beginning in God. Jesus did not only teach about walking in the commandments of God and in relationship to God. Jesus lived them out by the good he accomplished. These works were the evidence of Jesus living in the Father and the Father living in him. What do our works say about our relationship to God in Jesus? Is it clear by what we do and what we say that we have Jesus as our Savior and Lord? Is it clear by what we do and say that the Father is in us and we are in the Father?