Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Tone of specific sentences

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Anger
Disgust
Fear
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Anger
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\\ Dear Bob, \\ \\ SERMONWRITER FOR EASTER 4C:  The following are SermonWriter materials for Easter 4C, May 2, 2004.
They focus on the Gospel lesson, John 10:22-30, where Jesus' enemies ask him to tell them plainly whether he is the Messiah.
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\\ \\ Dick Donovan \\ \\ \\ TITLE:   To believe or not to believe! \\ \\ \\ SERMON IN A SENTENCE:   Christ calls us to believe in him, and leaves us free to choose belief or unbelief.
\\ \\ \\ SCRIPTURE:    John 10:22-30 \\ \\ \\ EXEGESIS:   \\ \\ CHAPTER 10:  THE CONTEXT \\ \\ John 10:22-30 is a continuation of the Good Shepherd discourse (vv.
1-18), which results in some of "the Jews" accusing him of having a demon (vv.
19-21).
Vv.
22-30 are followed by a rejection of Jesus, including an attempt to stone him (vv.
31-39) and his departure from Jerusalem to "the place where John had been baptizing earlier" (v.
40) where "many believed in him" (v.
42).
\\ \\ The common lectionary deals with this chapter by spreading it across, not three successive weeks, but three successive years (Easter 4A, 4B, and 4C) -- so we cannot expect our congregations to appreciate its linkage to the rest of the chapter.
It behooves us, therefore, to re-familiarize ourselves with the chapter as a whole so that our preaching this week incorporates the full richness of the chapter.
\\ \\ Rejection is a major theme of this chapter, and is reflected in the hostility of "the Jews" who challenge Jesus to "tell us plainly" (v.
24).
The passages that immediately precede and follow this text (vv.
19-21 and 31-39) deal explicitly with that rejection, although they also make clear that "the Jews" are divided -- some saying that Jesus has a demon (v.
20) and others saying, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.
Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" (v.
21; see also 8:31; 12:42).
\\ \\ A word about this phrase, "the Jews."
It is not Jewish people at large who oppose Jesus, but Jewish leaders -- Pharisees in particular (7:32, 45; 8:13; 9:40) -- people with power and prestige to protect.
Common people find it easier to believe in Jesus.
The more sophisticated, wealthy, or powerful we become, the more obstacles we encounter on the road to faith.
Jesus turns upside down the lives of those who would follow him.
Those who "have it made" are less willing to allow Jesus to disturb their comfortable world.
\\ \\ \\ VERSES 22-24:   IF YOU ARE THE MESSIAH, TELL US PLAINLY \\ \\ 22At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem.
It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
\\ \\ \\ "At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem" (v.
22a).
This Gospel presents much of Jesus' teaching and the resulting controversy as occurring on the Sabbath or on festival days such as Passover and Tabernacles.
\\ The festival of Dedication is now better known as Chanukah or Hanukkah, and is observed for eight days in the month of Chislev, near our Christmas.
It commemorates the triumph of Judas Maccabeus (Jewish) over Antiochus Epiphanes (Syrian) in 164 or 165 B.C.  Antiochus tried to force Greek philosophy and religion on the Jews.
Failing that, he attacked Jerusalem, looted the temple treasury, and desecrated the altar by sacrificing a pig on it.
Judas Maccabeus and his brothers gathered an army, liberated Jerusalem, cleansed the temple, and rededicated the altar.
The festival of Dedication, observed with the lighting of lamps and rejoicing, commemorates that rededication.
\\ \\ John's mention of the festival of Dedication has meaning beyond marking a particular time.
The temple represents the presence of God with his people, and Jesus is the new temple (2:19-21).
"Like the temple in the Maccabean period, Jesus is about to suffer desecration by pagans, aided and abetted by Jewish apostates" (Bauckham, 531).
\\ \\ "It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon" (vv.
22b-23).
He has apparently been in Jerusalem since the festival of Booths, more than two months earlier (7:2, 37).
Given the winter climate, Jesus teaches under the cover of the portico rather than outdoors.
His opponents find this an easy place to trap Jesus and to try to force him into incriminating statements (Gossip, 631-632).
\\ \\ The location is significant.
To the Jews, the temple represents the presence of God, but this Gospel sees Jesus as the new temple.
"The gospel of John presents Jesus as being what the temple represented.
Jesus is the very presence of God.
He claimed, 'I and the Father are one' (10:30)" (Lindberg, 52).
\\ \\ "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly" (v.
24).
It is a hostile challenge, designed to force Jesus into the open and to bring things to a head.
Anything that Jesus says can and will be used against him.
\\ \\ The issue of Jesus' messiahship has been raised previously in this Gospel:  \\ \\ -- Seeing Jesus teach without opposition from the authorities, the people asked, "Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?" (7:26).
\\ \\ -- The people responded to Jesus' miracles by asking, "When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?" (7:31).
\\ \\ -- They thought him to be the Messiah, except that he comes from Galilee rather than Bethlehem (7:41-43).
\\ \\ -- His opponents asked, "Who are you?"
(8:25) and "Who do you claim to be?" (8:53).
\\ \\ -- The parents of the blind man whom Jesus had healed were afraid, because "the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue" (9:22).
\\ \\ \\ VERSES  25-30:   I HAVE TOLD YOU, AND YOU DO NOT BELIEVE \\ \\ 25Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe.
The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; 26but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
27My sheep hear my voice.
I know them, and they follow me.
28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one will snatch them out of my hand.
29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand.
30The Father and I are one."
\\ \\ \\ "I have told you, and you do not believe" (v.
25).
The Prologue to this Gospel says, that the Word "came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him (1:10-11).
We see that acted out in this Gospel lesson.
\\ \\ Jesus proclaimed himself plainly to the Samaritan woman (4:25-26) and the man born blind (9:5, 35-37), but does not do so to these interrogators, because they come seeking, not truth, but grounds for conviction.
They not only ignored the evidence of his works, but also sought to turn those works against him (5:10-18; 9:13-34).
"As Chrysostom put it, they do not believe, not because Jesus is not a shepherd but because they are not sheep" (Craddock, 248).
They are the ones whom Jesus has identified as thieves, bandits, and hired hands who come "only to steal and kill and destroy (10:10a).
As such, they oppose Jesus, who "came that (the sheep) may have life, and have it abundantly" (10:10b).
Thieves and bandits hate good shepherds, because a good shepherd prevents them from carrying out their evil intentions.
\\ \\ Jesus also resists the title of Messiah because the popular idea distorts its true meaning.
"Too often for the questioners, 'Messiah' had nationalistic and political overtones which Jesus would not wish to encourage" (Brown, 406).
\\ \\ Jesus' words and works, however, give compelling testimony to his Godly power.
After healing the man by the pool, Jesus said, "The works that my Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me" (5:36).
Now, after healing a blind man (9:1-41), Jesus says, "The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me" (v.
25).
\\ \\ "but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep" (v.
26).
God leaves us free to believe or not believe.
Jesus' enemies choose not to believe in spite of the clear testimony of Jesus' works.
They persecuted Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath (5:16), and proved blind to the evidence when he healed a blind man (9:35-41).
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