Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim the baptism of repentance, inaugurating the kingdom of God. His disciples were tasked with announcing the good news to all people throughout the world and throughout all times. The universal mission of the Christian is to extend the Lord’s resurrection, as defined by Matthew: “As the Father sent me, says the risen Jesus, I too send you to make disciples of all the nations.” (28.18–20).
The disciple is the announcement of Jesus. Every Christian is an apostle of Jesus, and every Christian without exception is a continuation of our Lord Jesus through the communion of natures in the Church. Through the sacrament of Baptism, the Christian disciple is dipped in the nature of the Church and grafted onto the Body of Christ, becoming united with the Lord’s divine nature and His works.
Jesus spoke this truth during the feast days of the Dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is not a coincidence that the Lord contextualizes his message in this feast. He demolished that temple to build his Church in just three days. Details are vividly remembered in John’s memory, a testament to the profound impact of Jesus’ preaching on everyone who heard it. Jesus was pacing in the colonnade called Solomon’s Portico, and it was winter. Pharisees, scribes, and priests on duty surrounded him, demanding, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us openly!” (John 10.24).
What kept the Jews in suspense? Jesus’s answer revealed the source of their doubts: the works he performed, which testified to his preaching. He said, “I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness. (…) The Father and I are one.” (John 10:25, 30). The Jews understood that the works they witnessed indeed carried a special presence of God, which they refused to acknowledge and accept. Instead, they sought to impose their own understanding of the Law and Prophets upon God. Jesus’s answer was clear, and his listeners understood his words so well that they picked up stones to kill him. Jesus asked, “I have shown you many good works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?” This forced the Jews to express their own understanding, which was excellent and true: “We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you claim to be God.”
Jesus’s answer created a significant distance, drawing a parallel between his temptation in the barren desert and the temptation of the first couple in the lush Paradise. This parallel echoed two pivotal events: “Is it not written in your Law: I said you are gods? So it uses the word ‘gods’ of those people to whom the word of God was addressed—and scripture cannot be set aside—how much more the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world!” (See John 10:34–38).
Jesus continued to write the word of God with the authority of the Heavenly Father by consecrating and sending his disciples into the world. The Christian, or disciple, must witness this marvelous reality of new creation through their works. A disciple is not merely someone who learns, understands, and accepts; they are the one who continues, incarnates, and brings to reality the truth learned from their Teacher and received in faith. This truth is life, not an idea, but works of a good life, not an abstract wreath of lifeless wishes.
