|
As he [Jesus] was saying these things, many believed in him. So, Jesus stated to the Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my own word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John’s first century eyewitness biography of Jesus: Chapter 8: 30-42) |
The above took place in the Jerusalem Temple during the feast of Tents c. AD30. “Many believed in him.” But, he said, only those who “remain in my word” will “truly” be “my disciples”. Only those “will know the truth”. Only those will be “set free” by “the truth”. What did he mean “remain in my word”? What is his “word”? What is it to be “set free”?
They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. In what way are you stating, ‘You will come to be free’?”
Had Jesus touched a raw nerve – then and now? Freedom is held to be one of our most important human rights. He has stated that my belief in him needs to be carried forward into “remain[ing] in [his] word”. If I have to do that, I won’t be free. Or will I? And what exactly is his “word”?
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I state to you that each one who does sin is a slave of sin. In fact, the slave remains not in the house into eternity; the son remains into eternity. So, if the Son may set you free, you will really be free.”
Jesus replied using “Truly, truly”. Did he realise that what he was about to say was counter-cultural and would be strongly opposed? “Each one who does sin is a slave of sin.” Today, the media and social media constantly stream confirmation of moral failure, hurt, evil and deviation.
He had just spoken about “remain[ing] in [his] word”. Now he has added the peril of “not remain[ing] in the house into eternity” and the possibility of “really” being “set ... free” of this slavery by “the Son”.
|
|
“I know that you are offspring of Abraham but you seek to kill me because my word has no space in you. I myself speak what I have seen from the Father, and, similarly, you do what you heard from the father.”
|
.
|
Did these people – believers in Jesus as well as, genealogically, “offspring of Abraham” – actually have “no space” whatsoever, in their hearts, for what Jesus called “my word”? As a believer, is it my way-of-life “to remain in [his] own word”? Or do I still have a different father from the one Jesus had?
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus stated to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you are doing the works of Abraham. In fact, now, you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. This thing Abraham did not do. You yourselves do the works of your father.”
The key test which Jesus put forward to them so as to assist them in perceiving whether they were truly “Abraham’s children” was a simple one. Abraham was a man who truly believed and followed the LORD God. He was not a killer. Some people are determined to kill Jesus – then and now. Is their wish to kill Jesus an indicator of the identity of their father? And an indicator of their slavery?
They said to him, “We ourselves were not born in sexual immorality. We have one Father - God.”
The AD 30 opponents of Jesus were hinting that Jesus was conceived in adultery. Seemingly, they were aware of his conception into the womb of Mary, his mother, prior to her physical completion of her marriage vows to Joseph, her husband. They are righteous from birth. Jesus wasn’t. Correct?
|
|
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I myself have come out from God. And I am here not because of myself, but because he himself sent me out…”
|
.
|
| Have you noticed that his reply addressed his unusual birth? “I myself have come out from God…. And I am here not because of myself, but because he himself sent me out.” It is because of that – for that reason – that the correct response to him was not to put him to death (as they intended) but, as he rightly said “If God were your Father, you would love me.” “And remain in my word”. |
|
|
