If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your 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 yesterday's reading, the religious leaders who are questioning Jesus 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 it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which if 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."  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?"  My study bible comments that since these religious leaders are unable to defeat Christ through logic or truth, as His enemies they resort to personal insult (see also 9:34).

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."   Christ's words here are similar to His words about witnessing.  Everything comes back to the witness of the Father, just as Christ's own honor is constituted through the honor of the Father.  He bears witness of the Father in the world, teaching the Father's word which He keeps, and telling the truth that He knows the Father.  And again, Jesus cites the example of Abraham, whom these men consider to be their "father," but to whose own behavior they bear no resemblance.

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.  I AM (in Greek, ego eimi/εγω ειμι) is the divine Name of God in the Old Testament, my study bible explains.  It was first revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15).  For the Jews, this is a direct, explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God, my study bible says, as we can see from the reaction of these men who then attempt to stone Christ (see also Mark 14:62-64).   It adds that John places special emphasis on the use of this Name in order to clearly reveal Christ as God.  This divine claim illuminates Christ's authority even over death (verse 52), which is a power that belongs only to God the Father. 

Jesus continues to emphasize His identification with the Father.  Everything He is given comes from the Father:  His word and teachings, His truth, His identity as Son, His honor.  In this final declaration, "Before Abraham was, I AM," Jesus confirms that He is the "Lord" of the Old Testament.  When David writes in Psalm 110:  "The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool'," we as Christians understand this to mean that God the Father was speaking to Christ as Lord.  David refers to the Messiah as "my Lord," and in this way we understand the Messiah to be the divine Son.   In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus "stumps" His questioners by quoting this passage from the Psalm, as they question His identity (see, for example, Matthew 22:41-46).  Christ is David's son in His humanity, by lineage, but God's Son in His divinity.  But in John's Gospel we are repeatedly assured that when we see Christ, so we see the Father.  The way He is speaking in today's reading. we know that what He is, and who He is, it all comes from His union with the Father, and that this is what He is sent into the world to express.  He does nothing of Himself alone.  So the real question becomes, for us, how we see Christ.  For it is the way that we respond to Christ that also expresses how we respond to God the Father.  In chapter 14, Jesus will tell the disciples, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (14:9).   But Jesus was not sent to speak of Himself, except that He might show us the way to the Father as well.  If Christ's honor, word, truth, judgment and so many things come from the Father, then the real consideration implied here is to ask where our own honor word, truth, judgment, etc. come from.  Where is our truth, and what is the truth of each of us?  As Jesus finds all substance in the Father, so we should consider how our faith and our willingness to live it brings us honor, and truth.  We should consider how it helps us to "judge with righteous judgment" rather than by appearance (7:24).  In following Christ's example for us, in searching this very reason why He was sent -- to give us, essentially God the Father in so many ways -- then we have to start to think of all the things brought to us through our faith.  Moreover, where Father and Son are, so is the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit are myriad to us.  But everything depends on our faith, and we start there.  Jesus speaks of life in abundance and life everlasting, but that very life He gives is not about some separate time or place from the here and now.  Our faith is essential to the quality of life we have, the very texture and substance of who we are and who we become.  When we stop to pray in the middle of a day, or of any circumstance in which we find ourselves confused or at a loss, we should remember that.  We ground ourselves in the world of God, we seek our communion in prayer.  Christ becomes the anchor for everything else, and this is where we find help for strength, to see past the falsehoods that present themselves in life, to cope with our own imperfect sight, our mistakes.  There is the road of love, and that is what Christ brings to us in teaching so much about His life and communion with the Father, and how much it means to persist in God's word.