Intro to Chapter 26: A Claim of Divinity
“I and the Father are one,” Jesus said in the portico of Solomon. The Greek word one is gender neutral. A better translation might be, “I and the Father are one thing.” However puzzling the statement might have been, it was a clear claim of divinity, blasphemy to the Jewish mind. To us the words establish an important element of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Son and the Father are two Persons, but one Substance. Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God…one in Being with the Father.”
It was too much. The temple leaders tried to stone him — again — and Jesus walked away. His intention, he said, was to lay down his life for his sheep, but not then and not by stoning. He was saving himself for a more terrible death. His time was not yet come.
To fulfill his destiny, it was necessary for him to leave Judea. Curiously, his summons to return came with a message of human need. A friend whom he loved had fallen ill and had taken to his deathbed. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In returning to Bethany, Jesus gave us not just words to obey, but an example to inspire us.