37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father."
39 "Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
Dig Deeper
One of the big challenges that I had as a teacher whenever we took a large group of students out into public was to get to remember and actually act as though they represented the school. If they went around acting like a bunch of hooligans, they would send the clear message that this was what the school stood for and believed in. When you represent something or someone, the usual assumption is that you will act in a manner consistent with their values and beliefs. A few years ago, I am reminded as I write this, I was sitting down having a meeting with the leader of Muslim group in the United States. I asked him if would agree with the assertion that Islam seemed to be a religion of violence and subjugation more so than it does peace, despite the best efforts of some to claim that it is a religion of peace. He gladly admitted that those who make Islam out to be a religion of peace, misrepresent Islam. It is, he claimed, the goal of Islam to rid the world of anything that stands in the way of Islam. This is their view of God’s will and so when they act in such a way that is consistent with that, they are following the spiritual nature of Allah and what he has called them to do. He then asserted that Christians are the same way, we just don’t want to admit it. As evidence of this, he cited the Crusades. What he was missing, however, was that those who acted violently and imperially during the Crusades were not at all representing the true Jesus Christ. The point became clear, and surprisingly this Muslim teacher agreed wholeheartedly. When Muslims engage in holy war, they are acting consistently and enacting the principles of Allah, their god. When Christians act in love and peace, they are acting consistently and enacting the principles of YHWH, our God.
Jesus has already charged the Jews to whom he is speaking with the need to be freed from their bondage to sin. Now he will make clear that when they do remain in their sin it should be of no surprise, because they are simply acting in a way that is consistent with their spiritual father. They think and would certainly have claimed to represent God but if they would just take a long, hard, honest look at their actions, they would see that they are not acting consistently with the principles of God, but of their true spiritual father.
Jesus concedes that the crowd, which can probably best be described as a mob at this point, are Abraham’s descendants. But the real question is are they acting like it? The importance of being Abraham’s descendants, after all, was being the heirs of the Covenant, the people of God. Murder was certainly something that no God-fearing Jew would be a part of, and yet that is exactly what they have been looking to do. At this point in his life, Jesus is quite clear in his own mind with the fact that these Jewish leaders are going to have him killed. He knows they will succeed but not before his hour has come. In the meantime, Jesus seems quite concerned with letting his accusers know that he knows what they are up to and where it will all lead. If they would just stop and think about it, they might realize that this is one more sign for them pointing to their need to believe in him as the Messiah. In fact, Jesus leaves no room for them to think that he knows what they are up to because he is a great detective or just quite discerning when it comes picking up on clues. How does he know that they are looking for a way to kill him? Because he is only telling them what he has seen in the Father’s presence. The very things that they hate him for are the things that he has seen, heard, and relayed from the Father Himself. The point is clear. Jesus comes from his Father as is evidenced by the fact that the things he says and does are the types of things that the Father says and does. They, on the other hand, are doing the things that their father says and does. Jesus doesn’t yet say who he thinks their father is, but the fact that he is clearly distinguishing it from God begins to make the point. The implication is that it can’t be Abraham either, because in the Jew’s eyes, he was the ultimate law keeper even before there was a law.
The Jews here, sensing that Jesus is implying that they have a father different from Abraham, affirm that Abraham is their father. This was an important fact for the Jews because being the children of Abraham was their identity. It gave them, in their own eyes, their status before God as his people. Notice Jesus’ subtle yet deliberate switch in terminology in response to their affirmation that Abraham is their father. They may be his descendants, Jesus agrees with that but the question is, are they his children? Being the child of someone, in biblical terminology usually denoted a spiritual connection. Jesus’ point is that they might be the physical descendants of Abraham but that does not get them anywhere if they’re not his spiritual descendants. They are not acting like Abraham would act because they are trying to kill him. Abraham would never do such a thing. He would never plot to kill God’s messenger. In fact, Genesis 18 is quite clear that Abraham met the messengers of God with humility and hospitality, eager to hear a word from their Lord. Again, in verse 41 Jesus implies that they are doing the work of some other father but it’s sure not Abraham. This stands as a comparison, in one sense, and a contrast in another to Jesus. They are both doing the works of their fathers, but Jesus’ Father is a very different father than theirs.
The response of the Jews in verse 41 to Jesus’ second insinuation that they have a spiritual father that is not Abraham is probably meant as a slight towards Jesus. The early Christian community certainly believed and taught that Jesus’ birth was a result of the miraculous virgin birth but there were likely rumors swirling around quite a bit already during his lifetime that something was fishy with Jesus’ birth. Those who rejected Jesus as coming from God would certainly have rejected any notion of a virgin birth and would have maligned Mary as having a child out of wedlock. This status as an illegitimate child would have greatly reduced Jesus’ standing in the community. If he wants to question who their father is, then they will throw it back in his face and question who his is. Picking up, though, on the fact that Jesus is speaking in terms of spiritual fatherhood now, the Jews skip past Abraham and declare boldly that God is their Father. Jesus might be physically illegitimate, but they are certainly not spiritually illegitimate.
This is not the least bit concerning to Jesus, however, because he is confident of his identity in the Father. Jesus is never swayed by human opinion and this case is no different. In fact, Jesus turns things right back around to the mob. If God were their Father they would be embracing him. In the Jewish culture, after all, to reject the son was to reject the Father. Jesus did come from the very presence of the Father, so when they malign him, they malign the Father and the mission that He gave to the son. When they deny the work of the son, they are really demonstrating that they do not not embrace the work of the Father.
Jesus now gets right to the point. Their father is not God or Abraham but the devil. They are busy doing his works and behaving like him. That’s why they cannot understand what Jesus has been teaching. They cannot understand his logos, his word, because they speak in the language of their spiritual father. Jesus has been speaking the truth that comes from heaven but the devil is fluent only in lies from the earthly realm, that is his native language, and by implication, theirs as well. They do not believe Jesus because they are so consumed with the works of their father that they cannot even recognize the genuine works of the Father when they see them. The worst part was, though, that they had defined what they were doing as the work of the Father. This was fatally dangerous. When we don’t discern the truth and begin to label our own will and the works of Satan as the real spiritual truth of the Father then we will find it very difficult, if not impossible to step out of that delusion and recognize the authentic truth.
All they needed to do is look at the works in their life and in Jesus’. They might try to trump up a few charges of Sabbath violations and even blasphemy but no one could honestly point to any sin in Jesus’ life. This is a bold challenge. Could any of them prove him guilty of sin? They were welcome to try but they could not. If they looked at their own lives, they needn’t even look past their impending plot to kill Jesus to find ungodly sin in their own works. That’s the importance of works in the life of the Christian. They don’t earn or establish our status in Christ but they do demonstrate it. If we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives that’s a sure sign that he is present with us. If, however, we see the works of the flesh, then we should be quite concerned (cf. Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-25). Is the Spirit there? Are we allowing him to work in our lives?
Devotional Thought
Spend some time reading Galatians 5:13-25 and Romans 8 today. Take an honest look at your life. Do you see the evidence of the desires of the Father in your life or do you see consistent and willful evidence of the father of lies in your life. Ask a few people who are close to you what they see.
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