“They answered Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to
them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works 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. You are doing the works your father
did.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one
Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “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. (John 8:39-43, ESV) (Caps added to pronouns in ESV referring to God
the Father, Son, and Spirit)
Jesus had just acknowledged to the Jews critical of Him that
they were indeed the offspring of Abraham (v. 37). He also told them that the
things they did they did as slaves to sin being subject to their father.
However, He did not call Abraham a sinner and say that Abraham and the one to
whom they enslaved in sin were the same person. The Jews caught this point, and
they adamantly responded claiming Abraham as their father. But Jesus did not
miss a beat in closing the door He had opened in speaking of their parentage as
opposed to their heritage. In essence He told them to prove it. If they were
indeed children of Abraham then prove it by doing what Abraham did.
Abraham would have never sought to kill Jesus because his hope
was in the promise of one like Jesus coming, but these Jews were committed to
their effort to kill Jesus. Jesus told them that He had spoken the truth which He
received from the Father, and it was because of the truth which He spoke that
they rejected that they also rejected Him. Abraham made no effort to thwart God’s
will. He may have tried to take things into his own hands, but he did nothing to
try to stop what God had intended. Abraham would not have tried to kill God’s
messenger. In fact, when messengers of God came to Abraham he listened and
believed. Abraham’s belief was credited to him as righteousness.
“And He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven,
and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So
shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord,
and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:5–6, ESV)
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a
place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing
where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a
foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same
promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose
designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive,
even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had
promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born
descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable
grains of sand by the seashore.” (Hebrews 11:8–12, ESV)
Jesus knew the heart of Abraham and He knew their hearts. He
knew that their hearts were not the same. Abraham believed the word of God and
the others wanted to kill the Word sent to them. What they were doing was the
will of their father, but their father was not Abraham. They did not respond well to this. They did
not like what they perceived as being called illegitimate children. They knew
their lineage, and Abraham was their father. They were not born of some other
father. In their response we don’t know
if this was also a stab at Jesus and the question that may have been around concerning
his own presumed father (Joseph). We don’t know if they knew the story of His
birth and that He was conceived prior to the marriage of His mother (Mary) and
Joseph. If they did this comment could have easily been a “Look who’s talking” kind
of response. But it would have also shown how much they did not know about Him
being the God-man conceived by the Holy Spirit.
They persisted in claiming Abraham as their father, and
through God’s promise to Abraham they claimed God as well. Jesus told them that
this could not possibly be so. If they were from the Father then they would not
reject the One sent by the Father. Instead they would embrace Him in love. They
would recognize the Father’s word and they would accept the One sent to fulfill
that word. They would know the One sent in the power of the Spirit to proclaim fulfill
exactly what God had intended. They would have had a receptive spirit to the work
of the Father in their midst. He told them that He was right in front of them,
and they would not accept Him thus proving how alienated they were from God.
He continued to speak to them about their rejection, saying,
“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My
word.” They did not accept Jesus because of the message He proclaimed. They did
not want to hear it and in response they rejected the messenger. There is this a
I’ve heard over the years used by those who have been sent to give an unpopular
message. It goes like this, “Don’t shoot the messenger!” Well, Jesus was sent
to be the testimony of the Father before a people who did not want to hear the
message and as such they vehemently rejected the messenger. Jesus was not a merely
human messenger as John the Baptist or even Elijah might have been. He is, was,
and always has been God—the Son, part of the inseparable Trinity of Father,
Son, and Spirit. As fully God He became fully man without giving up His being
God in order to fulfill the will of God expressed by the Father and fulfilled
in the Son full of the Spirit. God is God
and there is no other. Seeing Jesus was seeing the Father. This is what Jesus
had proclaimed as truth, and these Jews showed their rejection of the Father
through their rejection of His Son. They were not of the Father and they would
not accept the words of the Son. His words fell on deaf ears and hard hearts.
Even today we continue to encounter those whose god is not
God and whose ways are not His ways. They reject Him and they do not comprehend
His words. In doing this they reject those who publicly stand with Him and seek
to proclaim His truth. When it comes down to it there are only two types of
people, those who are adopted children of God by faith and those who are in
darkness, lost in their sins. Jesus will speak more of this in the next verses,
but for today there are a couple of thoughts I have on how to move forward with
this information and example. The first is to make sure that I guard my heart
and continue to hide God’s word in it so that I might know those things of God
as opposed to those that are not. And as I look outside the church to those who
are lost, I am to continue to pray that the Spirit might soften hearts and open
eyes so that they might understand and believe. Along with that I am reminded
of my role to be continually ready to give an answer for the hope that I have
and to live in such a way that my life is a proof of God’s handiwork.
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is
good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be
blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ
the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks
you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and
respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who
revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to
suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1
Peter 3:13–17, ESV)
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