STUBBORN REJECTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Jews answered Him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

“I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys My word will never see death.”

At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

Jesus replied, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the One who glorifies Me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and obey His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad.”

“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to Him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

John 8:48-59

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever tried to talk to someone, attempting to share a viewpoint, and soon discovered the other person wasn’t really interested in what you had to say? In fact, that other person was so stubbornly embedded in their own thoughts that they closed their ears and stopped listening to what you were saying.

I can say I have had a few of these engagements in my life and as we see in today’s closing verses from John, Chapter 8, Jesus did as well. For the entire chapter, He has been in the temple courts trying to teach the assembled Jews about who He was, who sent Him, and what He could bring to anyone who placed their belief in Him. Some of the Jews in company believed after hearing Him but a larger segment rejected and rebelled against Him, perhaps led on by the Pharisees who were present, the Jewish religious authority figures of that time.

In their exchanges with Jesus, the Jews claimed that they only had one father and it was God but their unwillingness to see Jesus as God’s only Son, sent by Him to save the world, invalidated their assertions. In fact, Jesus told them that their father was not God but rather the devil who was the father of lies and had convinced them they knew the truth when their beliefs clearly revealed they were being deceived.

And so the Jews stubbornly rejected Jesus and as we see in today’s passage, turned their words into insults thrown toward Him, saying:

“Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

It was easy enough to see what the Jews meant by declaring Jesus was demon-possessed but what about being a Samaritan? Well, perhaps it would be good to pause a moment and discuss who the Samaritans were in relation to the Jews.

In a nutshell, the Samaritans were Jews who intermarried with the Assyrians after the latter invaded Israel following the dividing of the tribes of Israel. They settled in a land called Samaria, to the north of Jerusalem.

Since they had intermarried, the Samaritans were seen as half-Jew, half-Gentile and we know the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day considered Gentiles unclean and not worthy of being in the Lord’s presence. To further issues, the Samaritans had their own temple and conducted their own religious services, following the Torah. There was constant debate between the two sides as to how to properly worship God and frankly the Jews hated the Samaritans, not believing anything good could come from them. This is why Jesus used a Samaritan as the person who did good in His infamous parable, not the religious leaders who saw but walked by a badly injured man in need of help.

So given all this, the Jews were labeling Jesus as only being half Jew and under the influence of demons. Perhaps they could not have said anything more dishonorable to the very Son of God Himself and we find Jesus quickly rebuking the Jews for their comments:

“I am not possessed by a demon but I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys My word will never see death.”

Everything Jesus was doing was in step with the will of His Father who had a plan for His Son that needed to be executed with perfection. In contrast to how the Jews present were disrespecting God, their alleged father, through their words and behavior, Jesus lets them know He is all about bringing glory to the Maker and Master of everyone, the only One who was the Judge of man. This almighty, divine Judge had already revealed Himself many times over to the Jews who were disobedient and sinned against Him over and over and over again. All had sinned and fallen short of His glory and yet He so loved the world that He sent His Son so whoever would believe in Him wouldn’t perish but experience eternal life (John 3:16). Indeed, anyone who placed their hope in Jesus and obeyed His commands would never see death. It was true in the first century and it remains true today.

Well, remember when I mentioned that you can be talking to people and they really aren’t interested in what you have to say? We see it on full display in the Jews’ response to what Jesus told them and it manifests itself in complete rage and desire for retribution.

“Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

Jesus had told the Jews that He had come from God the Father, the very God they claimed to be their father. But they Jews were not willing to believe it, showing once more that they were in no way truly connected to God who would have validated Jesus was who He claimed to be if they would just have consulted the Heavenly Father. Their continued accusation that Jesus was demon possessed showed just how disconnected they were from God.

Knowing Abraham and the prophets had died, the Jews asked Jesus who He thought He was, understanding that Jesus was elevating Himself above Abraham. Of course, Jesus was one with His Father, which indeed placed Him in a higher place of honor than Abraham, but He told the Jews that “Abraham rejoiced at the thought” of seeing Jesus come, as he would have rejoiced in any and all of God’s works that came to glorious fruition.

These remarks led the Jews to ask how Jesus could have seen Abraham even though He was only fifty years old (Jesus was really only in His early thirties but the point is that Abraham preceded Him by many, many years). Jesus’ reply inflamed the Jews as He said:

“Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!”

Through His proclamation, Jesus was affirming He was One with God, the same God who had spoken to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-14), and as we see by the actions of the crowd, the words weren’t received well. For the Jews who had been verbally sparring with Jesus exchanged their words for weapons, picking up stones to kill Jesus for what they saw as blasphemous statements but as we have seen at other times, Jesus managed to escape danger, first hiding Himself before “slipping away from the temple grounds”.

Today, unfortunately, we find a large segment of the world’s population who behave as the Jews did, refusing to listen to the words of Jesus and stubbornly rejecting His offer to bring salvation. Just as in the first century when Jesus came to life to be Emmanuel, God with us, those who accept Jesus and obey His words will not taste death. For eternal life comes to all those who simply believe in Jesus and become His followers.

I pray you are counted in that number this day.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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