48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 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.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 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. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
If you have attended Warrenton Presbyterian church for any length of time you have probably noticed that during the allergy season the pollen and humidity go straight to my throat. Between allergies and the strain of speaking nonstop for two or three hours every Sunday, I have to use lozenges to make it through the morning without losing my voice. Even then I know that my voice sounds growly at times, and I do appreciate your patience in putting up with it every week.
I suspect that most of us are allergic to something or another. Certain kinds of pollen affect my throat and voice. Other people have a reaction to bee stings, or shellfish, or peanuts, or wheat gluten (which is why we provide gluten-free wavers during communion). The intensity of the allergic reaction varies from person to person, from mild such as a itchy eyes, runny nose and sneezing, all the way to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. If you are one of those fortunate people who do not suffer from these common allergies you don’t know what you’re missing.
As I think about this, it occurs to me that all human beings without exception come into the world pre-programmed for one specific allergy. Until our hearts are opened by the power of God, we are all born and live our lives allergic to the truth, specifically the truth about God and ourselves. As with other allergies, when we are exposed to the truth about God and ourselves many people experience a negative reaction which can vary in intensity from one person to the next.
On hearing the truth of the Gospel preached or taught, some people respond with a mild allergic reaction: they simply ignore it. It goes in one ear and out the other without taking root in a person’s mind or will or feelings.
Other people hearing the truth of the Gospel preached or taught respond with a violent allergic reaction. The truth of the Gospel offends them, or makes them feel uncomfortable, or they become irritated or angry. We see a good example of this kind of reaction quite clearly in this 8th chapter of John, and especially our passage this morning.
These verses are part of a larger section of chapter 8 in which Jesus has been speaking with a mixed group made up of Pharisees who were against him from the beginning of his ministry, and former disciples who followed him for a time but then became disillusioned with him and left him and aligned themselves with his enemies. In this conversation Jesus claims to be God’s representative on earth, who fills everyone who believes in him with the living water of the Holy Spirit. This living water – the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit – is our connection with God, and Jesus claims to be the one who establishes that connection when we believe in him.
As we have already seen, the more Jesus explained the truth about himself the more negatively the Pharisees and his former disciples responded to his words. They could not abide what Jesus said because they thought they were already in a right relationship with God based on their physical descent from Abraham. They bitterly resented Jesus’ words because they implied that their descent from Abraham and their loyalty to their religion meant precisely nothing with regard to their actual standing before God. In this respect they resembled many people today who assume that they are in good standing with God because their family has been loyal to a particular denominational brand name for years.
Jesus told them that Abraham was a true child of God because he humbly believed and obeyed God’s Word when he heard it. But their behavior toward him – their refusal to believe and obey his words, their desire to kill him, their slanderous accusations that he was possessed by a demon – all proved that their spiritual father was neither Abraham nor God as they insisted: “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.” (v. 37) “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.” (vv. 39, 40) “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. 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. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” (vv. 42-45) Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (v. 47)
All of this was the simple truth, and Jesus’ words are as true today as they were then. Then and now, our response to Jesus reveals the deepest priorities and commitments of our hearts. The Pharisees and the others were very religious, and they talked the talk about their relationship to God, but their response to Jesus proved that their hearts were far from God.
Instead of rejoicing in the truth that Jesus spoke, and humbling themselves before him in faith and repentance, his words provoked a violent allergic reaction in them, and they hardened themselves against him and clung even tighter to their religion and its traditions. They could have allowed the cleansing, liberating light of God’s truth spoken by Jesus to penetrate their hearts, but they were allergic to the light of truth and preferred to remain in the darkness of their comforting illusions about themselves and God.
Friends, Jesus never pointed people to religion to make them true children of God. He always pointed people to himself, as he said back in chapter 6: “‘This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ [. . .] ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’” (John 6:50-58).
So then, God’s true children are those who receive His word of truth with faith and joy as Abraham did. God’s true children are those who strive to obey His word as Abraham did, and continue to trust in His goodness and faithfulness even when their efforts to obey fail again and again. God’s true children love His Son, Jesus, because Jesus reveals not only the holy justice and righteousness of God, but also the compassion and forgiving mercy that God pours out on those who humble themselves before Him.
The truth that Jesus spoke was highly offensive to his listeners 2,000 years ago, and that truth remains highly offensive today, and for the same reason. We are all hardwired to think that we are fine just the way we are. But Jesus himself denies that, just as he denied that Israel’s religion or physical descent from Abraham had any power to make people true children of God.
Jesus’ listeners understood exactly what he was getting at and it made them murderously angry. From their perspective his claim to be God’s representative on earth, who has the authority and power to make believers in him true children of God was so far over the top that they could not bring themselves to believe it. Instead of humbly confessing their error and bowing before Jesus in faith, they clung even more to their descent from Abraham, and they became even more embittered against him (v. 48): “The Jews answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Even today, when the Gospel is rightly preached in all of its fullness and the enormity of Jesus’ claims about himself sink in and we realize that he actually meant what he said – that salvation is found nowhere else but in him – it is very tempting to write him off as a lunatic, or a self-seeking religious fraud, or a myth invented by the early church so they could increase their market share among the religions of the day. How can any human being say such things about himself and claim that he is simply telling the truth?
We see the answer to that question in the last part of our passage this morning (vv. 56-58): “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’”
Jesus said many extraordinary things during his ministry, but this stands above them all: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” These words are an explicit claim to divinity, as if Jesus is saying: “He who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, he whom you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the prophets worship is now standing before you.”
In his commentary on John’s Gospel, John Calvin says this about this claim: “By these words [Jesus] excludes himself from ordinary human beings and claims superhuman power for himself, a heavenly and divine power, [. . .] which reached from the beginning of the world through all ages [. . .] because the power and grace of Christ, so far as he is the Redeemer of the world, was common to all ages. It agrees therefore with what the apostle said: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8).”
When we read about Jesus and his words and deeds, we are reading about the words and deeds of the invisible God made visible in human flesh. So then, if you are searching for God, if you wish to know the will and purpose of God all you need to the do open the pages of this book and read with a humble, open heart and open mind.
Now then, what does all of this mean? If Jesus is telling us the truth about himself, then everyone who accepts that truth is a true child of God. And all of the promises that God makes to His children apply: forgiveness of sin as a free gift of grace that does not depend on our goodness but on Jesus’ perfect goodness and faithfulness; the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that enables us to overcome temptations and opens us to the need around us so that we may find our happiness in Christ’s service; and the wonderful promise that everyone who believes in Jesus shall never die (John 11:26).
According to the great Puritan scholar and pastor John Owen, this means that for Christians the whole purpose of life: “is to acquaint themselves with him – the mystery of the wisdom, grace, and love of God in his person and mediation, as revealed unto us in the Scripture – to trust in him, and unto him, as to all the everlasting concernments of their souls – to love and honor him with all their hearts – to endeavor after conformity unto him, in all those characters of divine goodness and holiness which are represented unto them in him. In these things consist the soul, life, power, beauty, and efficacy of the Christian religion; without which, whatever outward ornaments may be put upon its exercise, it is but a useless, lifeless carcass.”
The Jews put their trust in their descent from Abraham and their religion and traditions. But when it came to fellowship with God their descent from Abraham and their devotion to their religion were useless, lifeless carcasses.
How about you? On the basis of what I have said here today, can you look into your heart and hope to be a true child of God? Or is your religion a matter of loyalty to a brand name, a useless, lifeless carcass which has no power to make you a true child of God?