He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him

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."  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 it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts Me of sin?  And if I tell you 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."

- John 8:33-47

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His dialogue in the temple at Jerusalem.  He is at the Feast of Tabernacles, on the last and great day of this eight-day festival.  Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, "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."

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."   As is so often the case, John's Gospel illustrates a point when the two parties speak, in some sense, at cross purposes.  The leadership is responding in a "mundane" kind of perspective, while Jesus speaks of the spiritual reality of faith at work within us.  My study bible says, "To be a child of Abraham, it is not enough to be simply related by blood; rather, Abraham's true children share his faith and virtue (Luke 3:8).  St. John Chrysostom teaches that our Lord wanted to detach the Jews from racial pride and to teach them no longer to place their hope of salvation in being of the race of Abraham's children by nature, but to come to faith by their own free will.  Their idea that being a descendant of Abraham was enough for salvation was the very thing that prevented them from coming to Christ."  Again, we remember that in this particular dialogue, Jesus is speaking with the members of the leadership who are hostile to Him (in John's Gospel, "the Jews" is almost always referring only to the religious leadership, not the people).  But just in the verses before, we find that there are many who are listening who believed in Him.

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."  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."  My study bible notes here that proceeded (in I proceeded forth) refers not to the Son coming eternally from the Father, but to Christ being sent from the Father to His Incarnation on earth. 

"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 it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts Me of sin?  And if I tell you 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."  My study bible says that "just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing his attributes, likewise, those who reject Christ share the same attributes as the devil (in particular, a hatred for truth), and thus are rightly called the devil's children."  Love of the Father, and thereby an understanding of Christ, is the one thing to which Jesus keeps referring back.  Where is that love in these hostile authorities?  What are they fighting against in Jesus?  This love Jesus speaks of is always tied to truth, a love of truth, the spiritual reality of the Father.  Therefore its antagonism is tied to a rejection or hatred of that truth, and a rejection of that true spiritual freedom.  It is tied to lies and deception.

Jesus defends Himself by telling them (and us) the truth -- the truth about where He's from and who He is.  He always starts with the Father and most particularly with the love of the Father that defines who He is and what He is doing, and also those who can truly "hear" Him.  It's as if He's appealing to these men in the leadership to listen to their hearts and not their pride, and all the things that get in the way of that truth in the heart.  With these men, we know there is pride of place and position, of authority, that they are seeking to defend against this man, Jesus.  Even the temple police, who were sent to arrest Him, could not do so.  They came back to these leaders with the words, "No man ever spoke like this!"  Jesus also taught, in yesterday's reading, that those who wish to be His disciples must simply abide in His word.  There are many in this crowd who do believe, because of His word that He teaches.  So the Gospel presents us with a stark picture about truth, and about our own freedom ("If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." )   A love of truth begins with the love of the Father, the author of all reality, the God of love.  It takes that kind of loyalty to remain free.  And the enemy of this love is that which would deceive even by our own cares and worries and delusions.  In this case, these men fear what they will lose, their positions of authority.  John teaches elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus will be sought to put to death not for love of truth, but simply because of envy.  And so, there's a path cleared for us here, a kind of way to help us to understand whether we are living "on the level," so to speak, in truth, or in forms of self-deception.  God comes first, it's just that.  It's our loyalty and love in our hearts to something grander than we can imagine, but to which we can nevertheless relate -- as children.  John, the author of this Gospel, also writes that "God is love."  And that's how we know who our true parent is, the One who keeps us on the level, who asks us to put aside everything else we might want to cling to and move forward into deeper relationship, in love.  He's the one who will tell us the truth, when for all kinds of reasons there may be others who seek to deceive, even by flattery to our own sense of our perfection or importance.  Love acts to tell you the truth about what is truly for your good, for your best.  Even if we have no where else to turn for that kind of love, as Jesus has said, the Father is always with us.  We are never alone, and in that love is the whole of the Trinity, the great cloud of witnesses, and those who will share in that kind of love that is from the truth.  Let's remember where "home" really is, where the truth is for us.