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S. Holy Trinity.25 John 8:48-59

I remember turning 60 (and though I have another birthday upcoming, I have no expectations of cake 😉 My son wished me a happy birthday. I asked if he knew how old I was? He paused and said, “Uh, 65?” A little exasperated, I said “I’m just 60”! He said, “Well, you don’t look a day over 65!” Guess the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree?

Jesus is 32! when they say: “You don’t look a day over 50, and you’ve seen Abraham?” It’s a slight slighting, but make no mistake: it’s a jab. They’re making every effort—high blows and low—to knock Jesus down a peg, to put him in a place equal or equalish to their own.

And these Jews giving Jesus grief are not toadies of the Pharisees and Sadducees who openly hate Jesus. We learned earlier in this chapter that these “are those Jews who ‘believed’ him!”. With friends like these…(!)

What has gotten their goat and got them mad? Jesus! did—a few verses before today’s Gospel—by saying they’re trying to kill him. (!) Very angry, indeed! Why kill him, though? Well, Jesus told them they are slaves—but, if they abide in the his word, they will know the truth and the truth will set them free… 😉

Instead of seeing the glass half full—that they will be made free by Jesus the Word, they only see the negative. They object: “Hey! We are Abraham’s seed and have always, like Pippi Longstocking, felt free!”

But Jesus says “Au contraire, Pierre! Whoever commits sins is a slave to sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever; a Son abides forever. But… ‘if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”!

Jesus says they are trying to kill him because: his word has no place in them. Abraham did not try to kill him, so they can’t be Abraham’s sons and daughters because that’s not how Abraham’s kids roll!

The Jews double down. They insist they’re not only Abraham’s children (seed of Judah, ‘Jews’: ‘Lutherans, for Christ’s sake!’;-)—they also have God as their Father, as did Abraham! And Jesus says:

“Well… if God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, and not in my own Accord ;-)—the Father drove me. Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you are not able to hear my Word. You are of your father, the devil! And the desires of your father you want to do!

“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him… he is a liar and the father of lies. But, because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me! Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God.”

Today’s Gospel picks-up here, with the Jews—like the kid in “Kindergarten Cop” when Arnold complains of a headache, says: “it’s probably a tumor”—going ‘probably a demon.’ Jesus goes:

“It’s not a demon! Not a demon! I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory—there is One who seeks and judges. Amen, Amen, I say to you: if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death.”!

And they really bristle at that! Again, here’s someone who’s promising to free you from sin, death, and the devil’s grip—gratis! just because; yet, instead of looking at the bright side, they go after him like he’s the devil, the problem here! The obstinacy of unbelief and pride on display right there!

They argue with Jesus: “Now we know you have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets!; yet you say ‘If anyone keeps my word he will never taste death! Are you greater than our father Abraham—who is dead? And the prophets are dead! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus refuses to take the bait or brag. But he says the Father honors him and he knows the Father—unlike them! If he would say he does not know the Father, he would be a liar like them. But he does know him, and keeps his word!

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw and was glad!”

They go ‘you don’t look a day over 50’—old! but not old enough to have seen Abraham, surely?

There’s another subtle put-down, here: that Jesus has seen Abraham—as the lesser viewing the greater—while Jesus turns it around and says it was Abraham who saw him and rejoiced to have an audience with the King, was happy to be a lowly subject!

And then Jesus quits playing around, just says IT: “Amen, Amen, I say to you: before Abraham was, I AM!

These are the first two words of the Tetragrammaton, the Divine Name: Yahweh, “I AM WHO I AM!” Those who say Jesus never claims to be God miss the other half dozen times that he says “I AM!” a clear statement of who he is, the One, True God, one with the Father and the Spirit, because modern translations all hide that from you! Like; when Jesus walks on water to the disciples and they say “A ghost!” And all English translations have Jesus say “It is I” but the Greek is εγο ειμι I AM! A plain statement that Jesus is Yahweh, the One, True God…

It astonishes me that we think most people who met Jesus liked him and respected him. NO! Only his disciples, a small number, a few thousand out of the millions of Israelites, believed and loved that Jesus is God—ONE with the Father, the SON, who is, by himself, Yahweh, the One, True God with the Father and the Spirit, ever Three and ever ONE!—the mystery we confess today… 😉

Most of Christendom today doesn’t believe Jesus IS Yahweh!, the incarnation of the ONE, True God. Like Arius, they make Jesus a demigod, a “Great Teacher”, a mere imparter of information…

Such seeming politeness is really a put-down! Either you bow at Jesus’ feet, with fear and trembling, like Peter, begging him to depart—seeing how you’re sinful and unworthy of God’s presence—or, you’ll ultimately be exposed as a hater and mocker like “the Jews who ‘believed’ in him” are all shown to be!

You either ‘Idolize Jesus’ as kids adore their super-hero, or you hate him. Simply put: there’s no middle ground between adoration and hate!

Jesus himself says the road to hell is a big superhighway and many find it. The way to life is a steep mountain pass that few find!

The marker of the few is: “the quite disinterested self-abandonment of adoration”—‘Idolizing Jesus’, confessing: Jesus is LORD!—Yahweh, the One, True God who, by himself, is God! with the Father and Spirit, ever Three, ever One. In this Faith, alone, is Peace, surpassing all understanding, guarding heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.