Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word

 

 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 it.  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."

 

- John 8:33–47 

 

In our current readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  Yesterday we read that Jesus said to the religious leaders again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So they 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."  What does it mean to sin?  It means one is "missing the mark," as the word for sin means literally in the Greek.  It's missing the target.  But the target is God's way, which is truth, and the best way for human beings, as God is love.  So to serve another "god," if you will, by sin, is to work as a slave for that which does not love.  Christ's freedom is the freedom of adoption by God, to be a child and heir eternally, forever -- and therefore truly free.

"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."  My study bible comments that to be a child of Abraham, it is not enough to be simply related by blood.  Rather, Abraham's true children share Abraham's faith and virtue  (Luke 3:8).  It says that St. John Chrysostom teaches that Christ wanted to detach them 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, let us note that Jesus posits a dueling sort of loyalty:  these leaders are not doing the works that Abraham did from Abraham's love of God.  They do the deeds of their father, who seeks to act against 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 tells us that proceeded 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 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 indicates that, just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing Abraham's attributes, so also those who reject Christ share the same attributes as the devil (in particular, a hatred for truth), and therefore are rightly called the devil's children.  

Jesus' words teach us of a much deeper thread running below the surface of ideas than we might understand from a normally materialist point of view.  He speaks of a truth that comes from God which He reveals with the words He's given as Son -- and also of the rejection of those words that reflect a problem in the heart on the part of these religious leaders.  There is a connection between the depths of truth He reveals through His words, and the love of God through which they are given into the world.  But rejection of those words has something also to do with where the loyalties are in the hearts and minds of the listeners, and in particular, these religious leaders who are meant to be the spiritual guides of the people.  Elsewhere Jesus quotes Isaiah:  "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:8-9, quoting from Isaiah 29:13).  Although they are nominally the experts in the Scriptures and in their faith, these men's hearts are far from God.  Indeed, Jesus places them with the forces against God, the ones who hate truth, and He says their metaphorical father is the devil.  When we consider these very strong words, we shouldn't forget that Jesus even used similar language for St. Peter, on the occasion when St. Peter strove to tell Christ He should not go to the Cross.  We can all understand St. Peter's feelings when he tells Jesus, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"  But Jesus replies, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (see Matthew 16:22-23).   All of these examples, including the strong language in today's reading to the religious leaders, illustrate an important early teaching principle in the Church, that of the two ways:  there is the way of life, and the way of death.  This teaching of the "two ways" was already present in Judaism, but it is particularly prominent in early Christian sources, such as the Didache (50-120 AD), the earliest teaching document we know in the Church, said to be that of the Apostles.  Jesus gives a very strong illustration of "two ways" as He stipulates quite clearly that their rejection of His teaching, or revelation of the words given by the Father, is due to a hatred and rejection of truth.  Willing or not, they are following that which hates truth, and battles against God.  What it shows us, once again, is that we cannot lose sight of the spiritual realities behind what we see with our worldly senses.  At a very deep level within us, there are choices being made, and John's Gospel particularly illustrates this point, right from the beginning, when it teaches us about Christ that "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5).  It is so often easy to diminish the significance of such stark contrasts, given the popular ways in which we're offered all kinds of theoretical modes of being and thinking, philosophical choices for how we live our lives in the world.  Possibly one of the greatest effects of widespread and available social media is to give us a sort of "smorgasbord" offering of modes of framing our lives, or following different philosophical or theoretical systems that will explain our choices.  But Jesus is speaking of something that is much, much deeper than such surface musings, or an intellectual response to life.  He speaks of things that run so deeply into the heart of each one of us that we might not be aware of what we're choosing or the depth of influence in us to resist the truths revealed by Him.  These revelations are those given by the Father for Jesus to give to humanity, to the world; their depth is far greater and deeper than can be exhausted by our understanding, experience, or even lifetimes of consideration.  They are infinite in the capacity they have to reveal and to teach.  And so, rejection is also something that much more profound than the rejection of an idea or belief system.  Let us consider the severity of Jesus' words and understand their significance.  His sincerity and seriousness is not something we can dismiss, but something that must open up for us the deep concern of God for what and how we choose in our lives, and God's effort to save us for God's love and eternal adoption.  To be a "slave of sin" is not an accidental framing or choice of words, but a phrase which echoes very clearly the ambitions of the one who hates truth and acts against God, and does not want human beings to be free to choose God's grace.  Jesus explicitly says that he is "a liar and the father of [lies]," and that "he was a murderer from the beginning."  To choose the path of life or the path of death is to choose between the One who loves us supremely and above all, and the one who would tear down and destroy the grace and truth we are offered.  Each moment in our lives we are always offered such a choice, whether we are aware of it or not.  But, as the Lord so frequently says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear!