By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 11, 2025
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John 10:22–30 (ESV)
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.”
The past few weeks have been filled with interesting events. We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as we have done since the church emerged. And shortly after that the leader of the largest church in the world passed away. I am obviously not Catholic, and I have theological reservations that prevent me from embracing their doctrine. But I recognize that their history and practice has spiritual value for every expression of faith.
When Pope Francis died, the global Catholic community went into a time of mourning. They prepared for the funeral, and then after the burial of their pope they spent nine days in prayer and worship. For nine days they prayed for the future of their church. For nine days the leaders traveled to Rome, met together in worship and sorrow, and then we waited.
The Cardinals from every corner of the world. come together, they go into a room, and they began the conclave. Once the cardinals enter that room, they ensure that no outside communication can occur, and they seal them in. And the leaders of the church again began to pray.
They remain isolated from the world, praying together, and they vote with a secret ballot. These votes are counted and if there is not a 2/3rds majority the cardinals again pray. This happens four times each day, and if they do not have a pope on the fourth vote, they go off by themselves to pray and rest until the next day. This process will continue until they come to a place where 2/3rds of the cardinals have chosen their leader.
As an outsider, I find this process both beautiful and weird. I can make arguments for and against the process. I love that they meet in prayer, but I am annoyed that they vote, because I come from a tradition that does not vote because we believe that the spirit will lead us and together we will find a sense of the meeting. But I realize that in an organization that stretches around the globe, across countless languages and into many different cultures it would be difficult for such a large group of people to come to a sense of the meeting without some tangible form of communication.
As we all know there is a new pope in Rome. A pope who grew up in our nation, one that live a life of ministry and service, and can fluently communicate in more languages than I knew existed. But does it matter? Does it matter to the Friends who the pope is in Rome? Does it matter to the Baptists, or the Lutherans? Do the people in Ukraine that are not part of the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church care who the pope is? Do the Imams of the branches of Islam care? Or the Rabbis of the Jewish traditions?
In many ways it does not matter, but there are areas where it does. This is the leader of the largest Christian denomination in the world, they have influence if we agree or not. What they say and do affects us in some way. This is why throughout the past few weeks many followers of Christ from all traditions prayed with the Catholic Church.
I mention this because it is something we have heard a great deal about the past few days. We have heard reports about how politically active Pope Leo has been, and where he has stood on key doctrines. We have heard a great deal, but how can we really know?
This is where the religious leaders were with Jesus in today’s scripture. They had heard stories. They had seen past actions. They think they know something about him yet they are unsure.
Jesus was walking around the temple, and in the colonnade of Solomon. This is a structure on the eastern side of the temple mount platform. It was basically a massive gazebo that stretched 800 ft by 50 ft by up to 100 ft tall. This was the gathering place of the scholars. They would find an area within this massive porch, their disciples and anyone else that happened to want to listen would gather around them and they would listen while they taught.
Jesus is there at the temple. He enters this area, and the people surround him. The term gathered means to surround, to encircle. He steps under the roof and as soon as the shade comes over him, he is surrounded on all sides by religious leaders. I want you to just picture this in your mind for a moment. This is a space where various teachers go to teach, each one has disciples that follow them around wherever they go. Hundreds of teachers meet here six days a week. It is a busy campus like any university today. But on this day, each of those teachers got up and walk over to Jesus.
Hundreds of teachers surround him. Behind them hundreds of student wanting to hear what is being said. Imagine the scene as these bodies move like a flock of birds dancing in the air. Coming to rest around one man. Consider it for a moment and as you do, think of every radio preacher you like to listen to, every religious YouTube or Podcast personality, every university professor, and mega church leader along with their followers rushing in.
“How long will you keep us in suspense?” They cry out.
How long will you keep us in suspense? This is an interesting phrase. As I was studying this week, I found that there are a couple of different ways that people have translated this phrase. The one we have in our translation, but then there is a second way, “How long are you going to annoy us?”
Then they follow that question with another request, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
I have trouble with this phrase. I have been at the receiving end of arguments where people have loudly proclaimed, “The plain reading of scripture says…” and they proceed to speak their interpretation. I have sat listening to them and my response to their accusations is that the gospel is easy enough for a child to understand while remaining so complex that the wise can continuously debate it forever.
This conversation proves this. The phrase how long will you keep us in suspense? The words here if you were to take each one literally means, “The Soul/Life we take away or pick up.” The image that it portrays is like a child seeing a gift in your hands and you just stand their holding it. They are looking at you in a state of limbo. They look around as you stand there and they wonder if they were supposed to do something before you give them the gift. So they hurriedly pick up all the spent paper, they put away their clothes, all the dishes have been put into the sink, and they come back only to see you still standing there holding the gift. What else do they have to do? Are they missing something. Then the pleas start to come and they come a step closer, while you lift the box up just a bit more. They are wondering what must I do, what is there to do, so they just remain before you paralyzed in a state of desire and anguish.
That is suspense. But there is another way to look at this. Your older brother has picked up your favorite toy. He holds it out above you, just out of reach. You lunge for it, and you fingers just barely graze the item as it is lifted higher. This happens again, and again, and again until you finally cry out in complete annoyance. Your parents come charging in just after he hands it back to you. You look up and you see your brother with an innocent yet baffled look on their face as you parent’s ask what is going on?
One version of the story is one of complete excitement, the other is the origin story of a comic book villain. What is the plain reading of this passage? Can we really know?
There are some that are probably looking to Jesus, as the bearer of the ultimate gift, while others might see him as some sort of cosmic internet troll always out to prove everything you say as being wrong. Either way the very presence of Jesus in that colonnade takes hold of their lives, their souls, their psyche, and he then holds it up.
They can see everything they believe, held over them for everyone to examine. They know what Jesus has spoken. They see his followers, and they know that there is this idea going through people’s minds that he just might be the one they had hoped for. But is he?
How long will you keep us in suspense? How long are you going to annoy us? Tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.”
As you reflect on this throughout this week, I encourage you to take a quick look at the first nine chapters of John’s gospel and consider Jesus’s words. There are approximately five times Jesus spoke where he mentioned who he was prior to this instance. Each time he faced similar reactions. They tried to kill him, they called him the son of Satan, or they walked away speechless because he pointed out their hypocrisy. He had said, “I am the good shepherd.”, “before Abraham was, I am.”, and , “I am the light of the world.”
They heard these teachings, but they did not understand. They called him a blasphemer. They picked up stones to kill him. They grumbled, and denied his authority. And yet he stands there as they surround him. He stands there and the question remains hanging in suspense and annoyance. While they demand that he tell them plainly if he is the Christ.
Is Jesus the Christ? How do we know? Does he say it plainly? Honestly, Jesus does not say things plainly. He speaks in parables and in word puzzles. I look at the words and I think it is plain as day, yet I can have had conversations with others where they look at the exact same words and come to a completely different conclusion. What does this mean?
Words are just words. Words can be said but if you are unable to apply the words, if you are unable to see the meaning play out before you, those words are meaningless. Pastor Mwenitanda and Bilengana can speak the most amazing words in Swahili, but I do not speak Swahili. Their words are often filled with the Spirit’s power, but how am I to understand? Or how are they and their families’ and friends going to understand me?
“The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,” Jesus continues, “but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
We know the words have meaning because they are lived. This is what Jesus wanted the religious teachers to know that day. “The works that I do,” he says. Some translations have used miracles instead of works here, because the word means the acts or the deeds. The translators look back through the gospel and they see the miracles spoken of, so they believed that it was the miraculous acts that Jesus was speaking of. As scholars have obtained a greater grasp of the usage of the ancient languages, they have realized that the context of what Jesus is speaking of includes more than just the miracles. His work, his deeds are miraculous, but sometimes they are just normal every day things.
When Martha is busy in the kitchen getting annoyed by the lack of help her sister Mary is providing, she goes to Jesus to demand him to tell her sister to help her. Jesus does not tell Mary to get in the kitchen, instead he tells Martha that Mary has chosen something better and he will not take it away from her. Jesus in a short conversation and activity had opened the door for universal education. We might not see this as miraculous, but imagine if you were Mary and Martha that day. Imagine if you were countless women within that ancient society. It was a miracle that any teacher would say those words, and allow them to be practiced. Jesus lived it.
It is Jesus’s life that bore witness to who he is. There were moments where something miraculous was needed to prove the point. Like when the paralyzed man was lowered through the roof. Jesus spoke words to this man, saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” This made the crowd uneasy because only God can forgive sins, so Jesus went on and said, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?” It is easy to say words, it is much more difficult to live words. That day, the man laying on that mat looked into Jesus’s eyes and he heard the words spoken. Jesus look at the man and spoke again, and the man rose from that mat and began to walk.
One work we would call miraculous, the other we might call political or even woke. The point is Jesus did not only speak, he lived. It was his life that bore witness to who he was.
This has been an eventful few weeks. And we have things going on all around us that make us wonder. Words are spoken. And people react based on the words. They have to react because if they do not prepare themselves, their livelihood or their existence is threatened. People look at the reactions and they scoff. We are overreacting they say. The problem is not the words, but the life.
Turn on the news, watch it for just a moment and you will see the hypocrisy we all live in. Words are spoken but the lives lived do not reflect what was said. I have been trolled for months over these very things, and my mind continuously is drawn to this interaction with Jesus. How long will you keep us in suspense? Tell us Plainly!
Protestants, Friends, and the other groups among the western church do not get too overly excited about the pope, but the pope remains important. As much as we would like to say they do not represent us, they do. They are the largest Christian denomination, everything that happens within the Catholic Church reflects on us all. The good and the bad. We can say we are removed from their problems because we are an independent church, not under their control, but as a church leader I know that I am often asked questions concerning it all. Even today we are like those religious leaders crowding around Christ as he walked in the colonnade of Solomon, and we are asking similar questions. Who is right? Which of us is following you best? Tell us plainly!
Today is a day we celebrate the women in our lives that have encouraged us, that have participated in making us who we are today. We call it Mother’s day, but I do not think that encompasses the value women have in our church and in our spiritual lives. When I look at who I am and how I have grown into the man I am today I have come to realize that like Timothy it was my mother and grandmother that planted and nurtured those initial seeds of faith. It is not that my mom and grandma were remarkable in some global sense. They were not serving among lepers in Calcutta, or anything spectacular. They were just who they are and were. The lived what they believed every single day of their lives. And when their words did not match what they did they made a point to reconcile as much as possible. They were not perfect people but they showed me how to be a follower of Christ.
They were not the only ones. It was my pastor Edith Williams, that shared with me the love of she had of the Friends Church, and she showed that love because she took the time to teach us about it, and as she taught she showed us how to participate. It was a librarian that shared with me what books inspired her, that got me excited to read and study. And when I did check out a book that she thought was questionable, she took the time to talk with me and asked questions about how what was written in that book applied to my life. It sounds weird to say it out loud, and it was not accusatory she simply took the time to help me examine and explore my words and life. My Sunday school teacher, was the spouse of another pastor. She would often go grab the books off the shelf to look things up as we explored scripture together.
When I look at my spiritual life, it was the women of the church that would often take the time to explore faith with me. And I cannot fully express how important that is. They played active roles as pastors, and they were just regular people attending meetings for worship. They were teachers in my school, the person that cut my hair and co workers. They were and are people lived their words, and held me accountable to the words I spoke and lived. They showed me something about faith that I did not always see and challenged me to look at how my words and actions affected others around me.
This week I sat with this passage in prayer. I considered the various conversations I have had over the years. I remember the annoyance of some that would ask a question and they felt as if I avoided the answer, because they wanted something plain and simple. Life is not simple. The religious leaders all wanted to know if Jesus was the Christ, yet they all had their own idea as to what the Christ would be. He was to be the king, the priest, the prophet. He would restore Eden on Earth. He would free them from oppression. He would be…
We all have our own ideas. We have our own expectations and some of us might even have those expectations filled. In my life I have not seen many things that people would call miraculous. I have experienced things that I cannot explain and to me it seem miraculous, but to someone else it would appear to be random. Mainly all I have seen is people living the best they know how.
Which leaves us right where we began. Some are sitting in suspense hoping to open a gift and others are hopping around in annoyance. We are concerned, we wonder what to believe, who we can place hope, if we can afford to continue down the same path. We are left wondering if we can believe. Our lives bear witness.
How are you responding to the trolls on the internet? How do you react to the clerk at the store? Did the waitress or waiter plainly see the love of Christ being lived out as they brought you your food and drinks? Or did you hold them in a state of annoyance? Our lives bear witness. And how we live today testifies to the hope we have.
The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus that day, because he responded to them plainly and they did not understand. They continued to ask him questions, and Jesus continued to live his words in front of them. Eventually they did apprehend him, they used false words to convict him, and they enacted injustice upon him as they hung him on a tree. Yet through all of it Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” They buried Jesus. And on the third day he rose again to life, just as he said.
Jesus lived his words, and in his words we have life. As we go out this week, let us reflect his words and his life. Let our lives bear witness, that there is something more, that there is hope.
Previous Messages:
The Mind of Christ
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
Walk as Children of Light
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
Your Kingdom Come
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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