Why Actions Speak Louder Than Words! John 10:34-42

John 10:34-42 "Jesus Continues to Set the Pharisees Straight!"

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 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’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 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.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

the Pharisees try again to trap Jesus in his words, but in response he points them back to their own scriptures. 

“Jesus rebuts their charge of blasphemy by means of an argument from scripture, of a kind with which they themselves were quite familiar…His question would have made an interesting issue for a rabbinical debate.” (Bruce)

It is important to understand the use of the word "gods" in this context. The use of the word is almost always used in relationship to people worshipping other gods. But in this sense Jesus is referring to the judges in the Old Testament, who determined the fate of men charged with wrongdoing. 

Exodus 21:6 (relating to slaves and their masters) and 22:8-9 (catching thieves) both cite instances in which Jewish judges were appointed to judge these cases. If God uses fallable human judges, how much more can the Son of Man judge justly. 

"The argument is from the greater to the less. If in any sense they could be called gods – how much more properly He.” (Alford) 

Jesus also points to his works, if they do not believe his word. There would be no way Jesus could do the deeds of power he did without God's power working in him. This also confirms the Father is in Him, as he had just told them. Once again because Jesus is pointing things out to them that they cannot argue against, all they can do is to get angrier and try to seize, which they cannot do either. 

When Jesus allows them to arrest and crucify him, it will be on his own terms and in His Father's time, not theirs. After escaping their grasp, he went back across to the Jordan to Perea, where John the Baptist had baptized him. 

“Perea was the domain of Herod Antipas, where the rulers in Jerusalem had no authority. Jesus would be safe from harassment there – at least temporarily.” (Tenney)

In contrast to the religious leaders, the people went to be with Jesus and there received him. Unlike the hostile Pharisees, they came to believe in him. They had heard the words John the Baptist had said about Jesus, and they connected the dots to see that Jesus had fulfilled every one of John's predictions. 

Why are deeds often more powerful than words? Why did Jesus' works point to the fact that He was the Messiah, the one John the Baptist had introduced to the people? Do your actions speak louder than your words? Why do you people today need to see the power of Jesus working through every day people like you and me?  When we say one thing and do another as Christians, what message does this communicate to unbelievers?