Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (10: 22-30) in which Jesus says, ‘The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness, but you do not believe because you are no sheep of mine’.

Fr Paul says this reading is unique among those chosen for Easter because it is part of a controversy with the Temple authorities. All the other readings are purely instructional for the disciples of Jesus. But this Gospel is, indeed, instructional and picks up the theme of the Good Shepherd yet again, but the hostile question of the Jews sparks off Jesus’ sayings, and immediately after this passage they take up stones to throw at him, understanding his claim to be one with the Father as blasphemy.

The context of the annual Festival of Dedication of the Temple gives a special meaning to Jesus’ claim in today’s Gospel. On this festival of the return of the Lord to his Temple, Jesus is claiming that God lives in him.

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus has been making the institutions of Judaism his own. At Cana he takes over the jars of water for Jewish rites of purification, making them the wine at the wedding-feast. Then he goes to Jerusalem and replaces the perishable Temple with the Temple that is his body. He makes the Sabbath his own by working on it as only God may do. He, rather than the manna provided by Moses, is the life-giving bread from heaven.

At Tabernacles, the festival of light and water, Jesus declares that he is the light of the world and the source of living water. Finally, he will make the Passover his own at the Last Supper.

Fr Paul says all this gives the context and significance to the claim Jesus makes, and he invites us to reflect on it, that ‘The Father and I are one.’