“How long are you going to keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
From the beginning Jesus had been revealing his identity as the one sent by the Father to those open to the message. They were those who were drawn by the Father to recognize the identity of the Son. Yet the buzz around his identity also upset others who were not in such intimate relationship with him. His enemies looked for him to say too much plainly so that they would have an excuse to wield their authority against him. Mere spectators on the peripheries of the excitement of this potential messiah were hoping he would turn out to be a conquering hero like Judas Maccabeus at the time of the Dedication. They had no patience for the apparently subtle and spiritual in the message of Jesus. If he was going to do something about the Romans, well, they wished he would get on with it.
Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe.
The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.
From his very first miracles Jesus demonstrated that he was more than any prophet, that he had come to fulfill not only the promise of an anointed Son of David who would rule forever, but all prophecies. He revealed himself to be the victor, not primarily over military enemies, but over sin and death itself, the source of true light and life. It is hard to imagine being disinterested in miracles. But when the miracles didn't pertain to the peoples' immediate desires they experienced those miracles as mere distractions from what they perceived to be the important work of the messiah. Indeed there seem to be a wasteful focus on Jesus himself rather than on any particular problem he might have come to solve.
But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
They did not believe and were not among his sheep. But they were invited to embrace belief and come into the sheepfold. At that moment, in their interaction with Jesus, they weren't particularly interested to hear his voice or to follow him. They were actually in some way trying to make him follow them and their ideas about the messiah. The only way the could be happy with something else was if they drew near enough to Jesus to hear his voice and follow his way. They could, if they chose, allow the Father to draw them near to the Son where his voice could eventually become familiar to them and they could learn to trust that his loving plans for them were greater than any which they might concoct themselves.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (see Jeremiah 29:11).
What plans could be better than peace and political stability? Jesus told them: "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish". There was a greater security to be found in the hand of Jesus than in any confluence of ideal worldly circumstances. Indeed this was a security and peace that could be possessed even in spite of difficult conditions in the world, or even in the hearts of individuals still in the process of transformation. It was a peace that originated, not in chance, nor in the strength or merit of individuals, but in the heart of the Father and Jesus the Good Shepherd.
The Father and I are one.
Although Jesus constantly invited the crowds to go deeper, to draw nearer to him as the true treasure, the goal and the reward of human life, many were too impatient for their own ambitions to entertain this possibility. Yet even persecution factored into the plan of God. He was able to bring good even out of evil. For us, this means that there is never a reason to give up on anyone no matter how indifferent they might seem. They may yet one day be among "a great number who believed" and "turned to the Lord". When we see such wonders we can rejoice like Barnabas do our best to encourage them. One thing our Church definitely needs is for those with the gift of encouragement to put it fully into use just as Barnabas did.
When he arrived and saw the grace of God,
he rejoiced and encouraged them all
to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart
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