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"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? 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 has been in dialogue at the temple. The leadership has sought to have him seized and arrested but failed. It is the Feast of Tabernacles or Succoth, to which Jesus went secretly, but then taught in the temple. In our recent readings, He has been in discourse to the leadership, defending and defining His identity, the thing for which they are enraged, that He not only broke the Sabbath by healing a paralytic, but also that He called Himself the Son of God, thereby making Himself equal to God. In yesterday's reading, the leadership begin by responding to Jesus' statement, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free.'?" Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but 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." They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God." Jesus said to 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. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you 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." Today's lectionary reading begins with the end of yesterday's: Jesus' pronouncement about relationship and understanding. What do we truly choose to worship, to put first, in our hearts? How do we stay in the truth -- the liberating spiritual truth that is from God? How will we know it when we hear it?
Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" This is an ironic statement, coming after Jesus' previous phrase. He teaches that if they were of God, they could hear God's words said by Him. They in turn accuse Him of being a demon-possessed Samaritan. My study bible points out that Samaritans were viewed as demon-possessed heretics.
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." Jesus counters: it is the Father He honors, and they in turn dishonor Jesus. Moreover, He doesn't seek His own glory, but His authority rests in the Father. And the reminder of judgment comes, the "One who seeks and judges" -- and then the great promise. "If anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." It is a promise of relationship, of abiding into His life.
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? Who do You make Yourself out to be?" Once again, John's Gospel exposes the deeper meaning by having these men expose an understanding only of the surface or conventional meaning of Jesus' words.
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." This is a brilliant response to the challenge of "Who do You make Yourself out to be?" Jesus doesn't speak of Himself at all, He goes directly to the Father in His response. "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing" -- but the honor that is of God is what counts for all. Jesus will not back down and say He doesn't know God, because that would make Him a liar, a liar like them. We remember His emphasis on truth from previous readings. Instead, He asserts that He does know God and keeps God's word. Then there is a hint of prophecy regarding Jesus Himself: "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." This is the fullness of Jesus' response as to His own identity. My study bible tells 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 in verse 51, that those who keep His word will neither see nor taste death. Only God has power over death, and Jesus is claiming such power."
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 "regarded 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. But Jesus departs from their midst by divine power, without being harmed." It's not yet His time, His hour of the Passion.
If you think of Jesus as a man, His actions are really extraordinary. He uses all situations in order to further the Father's will, and to proclaim what He must through His ministry. He goes to this festival in secret and not openly (as He will when He begins the Passion Week). And yet He preaches His most challenging words, and reveals Himself truly as God with the words, I AM. Strangely He passes through the midst of His accusers when they seek to stone Him. He will use any and all circumstances as they come to do God's will, to be true to the Father, to reveal His own identity and what He is here to reveal. In His identity as a human being, we have to admire the strength this takes, the alacrity, the agility, and the moment-by-moment presentation of His "job", the thing He is here to do in the name of the Father. If we could but resemble in the slightest way this example to us, then we would be well on our way to an understanding of what it is to truly live a righteous life. Jesus, as God, as Son, does not coerce or force anybody to believe in Him. He tells the truth. He uses any and all situations not to force others to observe His authority, but rather for the glory of the One who sent Him and the honor that comes from that. If we could keep in mind that God loves us to the extent that He sent His Son here to do this for us (as John's Gospel tells us), and that Christ taught us about the Shepherd that will leave the whole 99 to find the 100th lost sheep, then we have in mind how crucial His example is for you and me. When we put God first in our hearts, and through all situations seek the honor that comes from God, then we learn to begin to adapt for ourselves the same qualities that Jesus the man embodies. If, through all things, we seek what God wants of us, and the union of our sonship through adoption, then we, too, have a chance to learn how to live our lives the way that Jesus does. And I think that is the great crux of the Cross, the learning to do things His Way, the life of real discipleship. Let us consider Jesus' unwillingness to back down from His truth and to tell a lie ("like them"), but rather His judicious use of teaching in steps, to reveal what is necessary at the right time. The I AM comes when it is appropriate. They may not accept it, but it is not their honor that He seeks.
