In my Father's name, a Reflection on John 10:27-30

When they asked him to tell them plainly whether he was the Messiah, he said that he had told them but they hadn't believed. Then rather than claim that he is the expected messiah, he shifts to identifying himself as the son of God:

"The work that I do in my Father's name...."
"What my Father has given me...."
"The Father and I are one."

They hadn't believed either what he had told them or even the works that they had witnessed. Only believers can believe.

Membership in this flock is permanent, once in is always in--"I give them eternal life....No one will snatch them out of my hand."

How do they get to be believers? How do they get to be his sheep?

We can read verse 29 as saying that the sheep have been given to this shepherd by God. We could pause here to re-engage in the argument between arminianism and calvinism, but I'd rather postpone it.

Instead, I'm quoting Fred Craddock in Preaching through the Christian Year C:

Christian faith lives by and witnesses to both statements: all if of God, and yet whosoever will.