Lent 5
Jn
8:46-59
4/6/2025
“You are a bastard. You are a Samaritan. You are demon possessed.” That’s what the Jews say to Jesus in the
course of the conversation in which our text occurs. Needless to say, the conversation does not go
well. And we find that at the end our
text, they take up stones to throw at Jesus.
The surprising thing, is that the
people with whom Jesus engages in this conversation have been described as
people who believed in Jesus. However, as the Lord continues to talk
with them, these individuals turn on him.
They do so because Jesus tells them the truth about themselves. They do so because Jesus tells them the truth
about himself. They reject Jesus. But in our Lord’s words we find the promise
of eternal life.
Jesus began by saying, “I am the
light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life.” The Pharisees challenged Jesus, by saying that he
was making claims about himself – that he was bearing witness about himself. But
Jesus responded that he was not alone in his work. He said, “I am the one who bears witness
about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” When the
Pharisees asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know
neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
The Pharisees did not know Jesus – they did not believe in him – and so they
did not know the Father.
The Pharisees had rejected
Jesus. But not all did. We learn, “So
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.’” Our Lord
urged them to abide in his word – to remain in his word. He called them to continue to walk in faith
for in this way they would know the truth that sets them free.
However, this indicated that
currently they were not free. The
Jews who believed in Jesus took offense at this. They answered him, “We
are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that
you say, ‘You will become free’?”
The Jews were confident in the fact
that they descended from Abraham. They
believed that they had a special status before God because of this. This pride had become something that blinded
them to their true spiritual condition. Jesus
answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin
is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house
forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed.”
Jesus said that they were slaves to
sin, and that only he – the Son – could set them free. The Lord’s words had exposed their true
condition, and now they had turned against Jesus. He said, “I know that you are offspring of
Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I
speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have
heard from your father.”
Jesus had mentioned two different
fathers. And so the Jews responded, “We
were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God.” They
called Jesus a bastard, and claimed that God was their father. However, Jesus responded, "If God
were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am
here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”
God the Father had sent Jesus. These Jews were rejecting Jesus. And our Lord
explained exactly why this was. He
said, “Why do you not understand what I
say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father
the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.” God was not
their father. Instead, the devil
was. And so Jesus says in our text, “If
I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words
of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of
God.”
In this conversation, Jesus sets
forth the fundamental problem of the human condition. It is slavery to sin. Sin cuts us off from God. And our Lord’s words also teach us about the
spiritual condition into which all people are conceived and born. Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The flesh – fallen sinful nature – brings forth
more fallen sinful nature. All people
are conceived and born with the devil as their father – the devil is their
Lord.
This is not what people want to
hear. It is certainly not what these
Jews wanted to hear. They answered, “Are
we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” They
accused Jesus of being a demon possessed Samaritan. From one Jew to another, it’s hard to get
more derogatory than that.
However, Jesus rejected their
charge. He said, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” This was too much. Jesus’ assertion sounded absurd. The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you
have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If
anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our
father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out
to be?”
Jesus was promising that he was the
means by which a person can have eternal life – a life that death cannot
end. This was something greater than
what Abraham or the prophets had been able to give. After all, they themselves
had died.
In our text, Jesus goes on to say, “If
I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies
me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known
him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would
be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.” Jesus said that his Father is God. He declared that he knows God in a way they
did not. He knew God the Father, and
kept his word.
Then Jesus said, “Your father
Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was
glad.” This too sounded absurd. The Jews replied, “You are not yet fifty years
old, and have you seen Abraham?” Then
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” “I
am” resonated with the statements by Yahweh about himself in the book of
Isaiah. When God called Moses at the burning bush and sent him to Israel to
bring them rescue, Moses asked what he should say if the Israelites wanted to
know the name of the God who had sent him.
God told him, “I AM WHO I AM,” and added, “Say this to the people of
Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Jesus had said that God was his
Father. Now he asserted that he himself
was God. The Jews knew full well what he
meant. We learn at the end of our text, “So they picked up stones to throw
at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
Who do you make yourself out to
be? Jesus tells us that he knows God the
Father. He keeps the Father’s word. He is glorified by the Father. And he is
God.
Jesus’ description of himself reflects the truth that is expressed
in the first verse of this Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We learn that the
Word – the Son – is with God and is God.
He is distinct from God the Father – there is the Father and there is
the Son. And yet like the Father, he is God. And as we learn about the nature
of the Holy Trinity, John then tells us, “And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only
Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
In our text, Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God withdraws from
those opposed to him. He does so because
he was in the world to keep the Father’s word.
He was here to be glorified by the Father in his time and his way.
At the beginning of Holy Week Jesus said, “The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Earlier in this chapter Jesus
said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know
that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority,
but speak just as the Father taught me.
And he
who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the
things that are pleasing to him.”
Jesus, the Son of God, was here to
keep the Father’s word. He was here to
do the things that are pleasing to him.
He was here to be lifted up on the cross in order to free us from sin.
He was here to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It was in his death that he was glorified by
the Father, for it was in this way that Jesus freed us from the slavery of sin.
During Holy Week Jesus said, “Now is
the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast
out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
people to myself.” Jesus was lifted up
on the cross in death. And then on the
third day God raised him from dead.
Earlier in this chapter Jesus said,
“You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not
of this world.” Jesus told the disciples
that he would return to the Father who had sent him. Our risen Lord has now
ascended, and has sent forth the Spirit from the Father.
You are no longer a slave of
sin. And you are no longer a son or
daughter of the devil. He is no longer
your lord. He is not because in Holy
Baptism you were born again of water and the Spirit. You are children of God because you were
born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of
man, but of God. Now you are of God, and so you hear the words of God.
You hear the words of God with faith
and understanding. And the Spirit works in you through those words to act in
love. The Father loved you in this way,
that he gave his Son for you. Jesus, the
Son, loved you by giving himself into the suffering and death of the
cross. Now, you share this love with
those around you. Jesus said at the Last
Supper: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
In our text this morning, Jesus
tells us the truth about ourselves apart from him. We are slaves of sin. We are
sons and daughters of the devil. But he also tells us the truth about
himself. He is God – the Son of God in
the flesh. He was lifted up on the cross
to free us from sin. As the risen Lord he has sent forth the Spirit who has
given us new birth in baptism. Now, we
believe and trust in him confident that we have life that will never end. For
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will
never see death.”
No comments:
Post a Comment