If you are a careful reader of the Bible, you may have noticed that one of the things John likes to highlight is the reactions of different people to Christ’s claims about himself. In some scenes, the disciples can hardly believe what Jesus is saying or doing, while a blind person or a Samaritan woman completely understands. Sometimes the learned and wise Jews are befuddled, but a Gentile gets it. 

And you might think Jesus kind of likes to hear and see the reactions, because he never makes it easy, for anyone really. This text is a great example. These Jews act like they want to believe, but first, they want to hear it directly from him.  “Tell us plainly,” they say. But Jesus won’t. He is essentially saying that talk is cheap. The Scribes and Pharisees talk. They talk a lot, but their work bears no fruit. Jesus instead says, “Look at my work.” If you were a person that valued fruit over talk, you would already know. 

This isn’t Jesus saying you have to be part of some mystery club, already one of his sheep. Jesus is actually calling those people to repent and to seek the truth. When we seek truth, we find Jesus.