He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God

 

 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 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 recent readings, Jesus is at the autumn festival the Feast of Tabernacles.  He has been disputing with the authorities in the temple in Jerusalem, who have unsuccessfully attempted 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 in 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."  Christ speaks of Himself as Son, the Second Person of the Trinity.  In His divine identity, He shares power that no other before Him has had as human being.  Therefore in His role as Messiah, the Son can make us children by adoption, conferring a kind of liberation that the law could not.  

"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 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 here that to be a child of Abraham, it is not enough to be simply related by blood  Instead, the true children of Abraham share his faithfulness and his virtue (Luke 3:8).  According to St. John Chrysostom, the Lord wanted to detach these religious leaders and their followers from racial pride -- to teach them no longer to place their hope of salvation in being of the race of Abraham's children by nature.  Instead He encourages them to come to faith by their own free will.  Their notion 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 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 says 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 notes that just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing Abraham's attributes (of faithfulness and virtue), so likewise, those who reject Christ are sharing the same attributes as the devil.  In particular, this involves a hatred for truth.  Therefore, they are rightly called the devil's children.  

 

Jesus says, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."   There's a very significant distinction being made here; that of those who choose to embrace and participate in what are called the "energies" of God, and those who choose otherwise.  In teachings of the period of Jesus (and especially in the Didache, the oldest teaching document known to us in the Church), there is the teaching that is known as the "two ways."  There is the way of life, and the way of death.  This teaching was also a part of Jewish tradition; see, for example, Jeremiah 21:8.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  The way of life is also the way of truth.  As we discussed in yesterday's commentary, this truth of Christ isn't only a simple declaration of true statements or theories or intellectual concepts.  But as Jesus says of Himself, He is the Person who is truth.  "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  As the Son Incarnate, He has come into this world to show us the Father (which we can see in Him), to give us the truth, and to give us Himself, for in Him is life that is our light (John 1:4).   Therefore, Christ Himself is the way of life.  So, therefore, if we abide in His word, as He has said, then we will come to know the truth indeed, living, real, the banishment of illusion, of lies, and ultimately of death.  For it is the one who opposes this life and this truth that is the father of lies, as Jesus says in today's reading.  "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."  When we choose to worship Christ, we choose to participate in His energies, and thereby to make a choice for truth.  This is a dynamic and active way of being, and something that works in us through our faith, and through our faithfulness.  When Jesus speaks of being true children of Abraham, this is what He means, that we can only truly be children of Abraham if we are faithful as Abraham was faithful.  Genesis 15:6 says of Abraham, "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."  It is this righteousness, the righteousness of faithfulness, abiding in the word of the Lord, that Jesus calls us to, that He calls these religious leaders to, but they cannot receive it.  There has to be a deep and even fearless commitment to truth to embrace the kind of faithfulness that Jesus is all about.  The true freedom He would claim and offer to all of us is in this freedom to love the truth above all, to abide in His word, and to refuse the lies of the devil that deceive and mislead, leading to slavery and death.  For when we would deny ourselves that union of faithfulness to true existence, to choose instead an easy belief in convenient lies, the delusion of complaisance with deception and manipulation, the "safe" road of living a lie, then we refuse life itself for a kind of slavery to what is not ultimately real, because it's not rooted in God.  Think of the complacency of those who would go along with the plan to eliminate Jesus for the safety of not rocking the boat -- for to embrace truth is often to forgo a worldly ease.  But our God is the God of love who loves us and wants to lead us to life, even eternal life with Him.  Let us remember the two ways and choose the one that offers us what truly exists, the way of life.  Let us always hear His words and cherish what we have in Him.