~ Who’s Your Daddy? (1) ~
(A 10-part series on John 7:11–John 8:59)
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” (John 8:31-41)
HE WHO CORRUPTED THE INNOCENCE of first man and first woman in the Garden ever continues his ages-old and never-diminishing assault on the souls of men and women. That first toxic venom injected early into the bloodstream of hope has progressively and exponentially permeated the conscious and unconscious habits of the mind of all mankind. And that old serpent, Satan, the father of lies, has spawned a venomous brood of vipers in each and every generation to further his objectives. Born into a world filled with deception, we find truth difficult to perceive, hard to grasp, even harder to hold onto.
So it is for the people who hear Jesus’ words in this scene. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32) Those who reject him can only mouth words of self-defense as they uphold their stubbornly held preconceptions: “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.” (John 8:33)
The former tentatively hear words of hope, and are willing to further explore concepts that lie outside their previous experientially formed patterns of subjective truth-seeking. The latter are in denial of their ancestral history—they were slaves in Egypt for almost four centuries, and slaves in the time of Jeremiah. They are currently in bondage to harsh Roman rule, and they are in blind self-denial of their current life condition, one that is both an existential and an eternal threat to them. Jesus makes an attempt to disenfranchise them of this willful self-delusion. “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (Rom. 8:34) Their bewildered response clearly defines the dark destiny opening before them: “How can you say that we shall be set free?” (John 8:33) So it is for the people of every generation; some will hear, wonder, and begin a journey of enlightenment, while others will cling to what clearly is only working to maintain a set of beliefs that keep them in bondage to a dysfunctional life of their own making.
One of the most cynical lines in the entire bible is given to Pontius Pilate to speak. Jesus, in response to Pilate’s query about his guilt, says “My kingdom is not of this world.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:36-37) Pilate cynically responds, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). This is not really a question, but instead, a rhetorical statement. In this interchange, the king of a higher order speaks an absolute truth, something to which kings and vassals of kings of a lower order cannot give credence, for it belies their experience, which has formed their subjective experiential values.
This is not just a clash of worldviews, for that would give weight to debate between equals. Instead, it is a revelation of the black and white distinction between that which is true, and that which is not. Each speaks of what he knows to be true; each holds to his ownership of his version of the truth. The litmus test for the impact of truth on humanity is this: the greater truth will prevail at the point of moral rectitude. Both Jesus and Pilate will be judged by their individual actions beyond this point, and history will record the moral victory of the winner.
Paul’s comments bear important witness to Jesus’ teachings about freedom. “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Rom. 6:20-22) Everyone is a slave to something, or, more appropriately in the spiritual realm, someone; we each must choose our own master. We are wise if we choose to our own best benefit; we are amongst the blessed when our choice is God.
Q. Do I understand the genealogy that substantiates my paternity?
Leave a Reply