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; was 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, it is the last year of Jesus' earthly life.  He is at the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn harvest festival, and has been disputing with the religious authorities, who have sought to have Him arrested.  Yesterday we read that 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."  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."  To be a child of Abraham, my study Bible comments, 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, it notes, teaches that the 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.  

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; was 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."  My study Bible says that proceeded here refers not to the Son coming eternally from the Father, but to Christ being sent from the Father to His Incarnation on earth.  

"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."  Just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing Abraham's attributes, as has already been touched upon above, here Christ says that those who reject Him share the same attributes as the devil (and in particular, my study Bible notes, a hatred for truth), and therefore are rightly called the devil's children.

What a dizzying array of concepts in today's reading.  They are related to Jesus' teaching in chapter 4, to the Samaritan woman, that "the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."  In that discussion with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, the issue was a dispute with the Samaritans over the proper place for the temple.  But Christ seeks to make her -- and us -- to understand the true nature of God and the true nature of worship.  Here He does the same with the religious leaders, but they, as contrasted to the Samaritan woman, are secure in their conviction that as the descendants of Abraham, they share Abraham's quality of love for God, and of righteousness.  But Jesus contradicts this by declaring that whatever He speaks is not from "Himself" as Jesus, but rather from the Father who sent Him, and the Father is true, and His word is true because He seeks only to do the Father's will.  In today's reading, He makes it clear that these words of truth themselves become a kind of light and life, and it is their response to His words that expresses where their hearts are -- that they are far from knowing and loving God.  It is because of their hostile rejection that they display in fact, a fealty to the one who is against God, the liar who hates truth, the devil.  If this is too much to grasp, consider that Jesus is ultimately speaking of spiritual matters here.  He teaches us something that was accepted within the context of Jewish understanding, that there were spiritual forces that were antagonistic to truth, rebellious to God, and that these seek influence over human life.  It sets the stage for our understanding of ourselves as in the middle of a spiritual battlefield.  We human beings have the capacity for choice, to seek God or not, to seek to know God or not, and to seek God's righteousness and truth for ourselves.  But we can also be tempted by that which is against God, and against God's truth, a corrupted influence which wants its own power, and human beings in thrall to it, even to make us slaves to it.  It is that corrupted entity that is called the devil, that rejects Christ the Son, rejects Christ's truth that He brings into the world.   So, when we seem to be caught between ideas that seem good but aren't really, or concepts that seem difficult but yet compel us to love God, to know Christ, to seek His light and life, then we are, in a sense, caught in the middle of a spiritual battleground, and the place of that battleground is in our hearts and minds.  We are the ones who must understand that it is pride in our own righteousness and conviction of infallible capacity that leads us astray, when humility accepts that we need spiritual guidance, that Christ was Incarnate in our world to bring that to us.  It is in this sense that we seek that light, because it is so easy to fall into the trap of a false pride, of assuming that we know all the answers, and that our truly limited spiritual understanding always suffices.  It is for this reason that we worship in spirit and in truth, we seek God in daily prayer to keep us on that right road, Christ's light for the direction and illumination of our lives.  But most importantly, we seek to become His "learners," disciples, and our work is to keep growing on His path, in His way.  Today Jesus touches on these spiritual realities, challenging the religious authorities to come to terms with their own pride or self-righteousness, and telling them they don't know God or they would be capable of hearing His words.  When we seek Christ's light for ourselves, then, we are asking for that light to guide us, accepting that we don't know all, there is a mystery into which we plunge when we accept the spiritual life as part of ours and our world.  His is the light we seek, His love the power to make us the adopted children of God in spirit and truth, His word the only ultimate freedom from lies and falsehood.