He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God

"He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God."

Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, "If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death." Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?" Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

- John 8:47-59

In recent readings, Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem, for the Feast of Tabernacles. The readings began essentially at the time He was taunted by His relatives who did not believe, saying that He should show Himself openly. He told them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready." Jesus went to the festival in secret, and about the middle of this eight day feast He began to preach, speaking of His relationship with the Father: "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me." At this time the leadership sent officers to arrest Him. He told them, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." On the last day of the feast, when libations are poured to commemorate the water from the rock that came when Moses struck it, He taught, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The officers came back to the chief priests and Pharisees, unable to arrest Jesus. They said, "No Man ever spoke like this!" Jesus continued to teach in the temple, as the festival nights are lit with torches and filled with dancing and singing in the temple court: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Again He continued to teach of His relationship to the Father who sent Him. He taught that He would be going away, and they would seek but not find Him. He taught, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Finally, in yesterday's reading, the leadership replied to Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus told them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." He taught, "You seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." He said if they were truly children of Abraham, they would do as Abraham did. They said they were born of God. Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. . . . But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

"He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God." Our readings give us this statement twice, so important is it. It tells of our own connection with God, but more specifically we must remember that Jesus is speaking to the leadership in the temple of His time, the ones who seek to have Him killed. We know that He also had followers among the leadership, believers, and some (especially Nicodemus) already play a role in John's Gospel. But He speaks to us of the love of God in our hearts, and these most learned men, experts in Scripture and the law, those with the authority to teach, lack that love in that depth of the heart. My study bible says, "Spiritual truth can be genuinely heard only if there is willingness to know God and to do His will."

Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" My study bible explains that "Samaritans were viewed as demon-possessed heretics." But the criticism of Christ has moved now from scathing remarks about His Galilean background into accusations of demonic activity. We must remember that here the term "the Jews" is used to apply to the party of the leadership and those driving its decisions, not to the Jewish people and not Jewish spiritual heritage. All the people involved here including Jesus Himself, His apostles and His supporters and believers (even the author of the Gospel) are Jews. By the time this was written, persecutions and other historical events shaping the Church have resulted in the first naming of Christ's followers as "Christians."

Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." Again Jesus repeats what He's been telling them, especially emphasizing the relationship with the Father, and with those who will be His followers.

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, "If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death." Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?" Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." There has been much debating and discussion about Abraham, the ancestor of the people of God, of Israel, the one who followed what he was taught in faith. Christ emphasizes again the relationship to God the Father, and through this relationship of faith to Abraham as well. He emphasizes that they are nothing like Abraham, "who rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." My study bible notes for us: "I AM (Gr. ego eimi) is a name of God in the Old Testament, first revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:13-15; Is. 43:10). To the Jews this pronouncement was a direct, explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God. John places special emphasis on the use of the expression for the purpose of revealing Christ as God. In context, this statement illuminates what He began saying earlier, that those who keep His word will neither see nor taste death. Only God has power over death, and Jesus is claiming such power." It's important also that we infer the relationship between Jesus' timeless I AM and Abraham who lived in ancient times, ancestor of the Jewish people, of Israel, the people of God.

Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. My study bible tells us that "they regard Jesus' claim to be one with God as the most abominable form of blasphemy. They took up stones because death by stoning was the penalty for blasphemy required by the Mosaic Law." Even though they seek to kill Him, it's not His time, His hour -- He passes by unharmed.

Jesus is on a mission for the One by whom He's been sent, the One who is His Father. And He has outraged the authorities in the temple. Everything they think, what they believe, is under assault here. How can this man, from Galilee, not even a rabbi or learned in a school of a rabbi, be the One He claims to be? There are all kinds of reasons not to believe. And there are all kinds of reasons to be outraged. But Jesus continually emphasizes one reason alone: He says that if they had truly known His Father, then they would know Him. He emphasizes His relationship with the Father, that all things, all judgments, and all teachings, whatever He says, is given to Him by the Father. He seeks not His own glory, but only that of the Father, and He is true to His mission. So this story, the things Jesus teaches us about Himself, is still and yet remains all about relationship. It is about what we love in our hearts and how that relates us to others, to the things we teach and learn, to the things we honor, and how we judge. He has told the leadership, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment." Over and over again, He encourages the leadership and all others who hear Him to place first the love of God in their hearts and then to see and hear Him with that love. So love starts everything, and it is the basis of our understanding. It is John the Evangelist who will also write in an Epistle that God is love. So where do we begin here? How do we know truth? When we find something outrageous, we must hold on to that love. We remember the love of God to stabilize us, to take us to a place where judgment can at least have a chance of being righteous. This is the place of real forgiveness -- not that everything we encounter is "okay" but rather that we give judgment up to God, that we remember God's love for us, and that we honor that love by seeking God's will and God's love in our own perspective. Where does that begin in you? How does it help you to hear and to see?