John 8.46-59
Judica, the 5th Sunday in Lent
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s gospel lesson is the final part of a long conversation between Jesus and the Jews. Throughout this conversation, Jesus has exposed the Jews’ unbelief. They claim to be descendants of Abraham, but they do not behave like Abraham behave. He told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would to the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this” (Jn 8:39-40). Instead, they do the deeds of their father—the devil. They lie and distort Jesus’ words and seek to kill Him, even though they cannot convict Him of any sin. Jesus summarizes this when He says at the beginning of today’s gospel, “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” They do not hear Jesus’ words for what they are—the words of God Himself—because they are not of God. They are not born from God by faith and baptism. Instead, they show themselves to be children of the devil by refusing to believe that God is His true Father and that He is God’s true Son.
Unable to convict Jesus of any sin, they attack His person. They call Him a Samaritan—not a true descendant of Abraham—and say that He has a demon. Jesus doesn’t bite on the accusation of being a Samaritan because even Samaritans can be true children of Abraham if they share Abraham’s faith. But He does respond to being called a demoniac, because it is blasphemy to call the word of God the word of the devil. He does not have a demon but honors His Father. He trusts His Father to seek His glory and vindicate Him against the attacks of the Jews, both of which He will do at when He raises Him from the dead on the third day after His death. Trusting His Father to seek His glory and vindicate Him, against this ungodly nation, He continues to teach these Jews what they desperately need to hear.” He had told them earlier the conversation that if they don’t believe in Him, they will die in their sin (24) but that His word will set them free from sin (36). Now He draws the conclusion. If one does not die in their sin, but is free from sin’s slavery, he will have eternal life. “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” The one who keeps His word—believes it, treasures it, holds fast to it in faith, guards it in his heart, and lives according to it—will not see death.
The Jews, thinking carnally, assume He means that His word will keep people from physical death. They say, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he will never taste death. Whom do you make Yourself ‘out to be?’” But Jesus isn’t speaking of physical death. Nowhere does He promise that those who believe in Him will not bodily die, just as He never promises them an earthly life without suffering and cross. All who believe in Him—except those who are alive in the body when He returns in glory—will taste death. But His promise is that though they taste death, they will yet live with God. His word is true because He Himself will do this very thing—He tastes death—so that those who keep His word will not see eternal death. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).
Even Abraham. Moses wrote, “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people” (Gen 25:8). Abraham tasted death. And although dead, Abraham lives with God because He kept God’s word, the word. He kept the word given to Him when God told him to leave his country, his family, and his father’s house, and go to the land which God would show him. He kept the words which God gave him that God would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great, and that in him all families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen 12:3). Abraham kept that word. He believed it and held fast to it, so that it was his most precious possession in this life. He lived according to it, though imperfectly because of sin. Trusting God’s word, he left his country, family, and father’s house, looking forward to Jesus’ day, to the Seed promised to Him—Christ—because it is in Christ’s atoning death for the sins of the world, and the proclaiming of that gospel to all mankind, that all families of the are blessed.
Still thinking carnally, still knowing Christ according to flesh, the Jews cannot help but ask, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” The answer is “yes.” Because “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” He has been saying this all along. If God is His Father, the one who has begotten Him, not created Him, and His word gives life, so that the one who keeps it will never see death, then He is God from God, light from light, and true God from true God. He is the one who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and identified Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14). This is why His word frees from sin. It is the very word of God. This is why His word gives life to all who keep it. It is the very word of God. The Jews understand perfectly well what so many deny today. They understood that Jesus identified Himself as God, as “I AM.” Their murderous desires, kept at bay up to this point, burst forth at what they believe to be blasphemy. They pick up stones to that they might make Him taste death in that moment. But in an act of divine power, He hid Himself and went out of their midst. For though He would taste death for all, it is not to be in this way, nor is it to be at this moment.
The Jews believe none of this. Not because they were ignorant of God’s written word. “To them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom 3:2). Nor is it because Jesus could have spoken more winsomely. He spoke bluntly to them because He was aggressive for their salvation. They did not hear His word because they were not of God. They thought that they were of God—that they were God’s children—because they were physical children of Abraham. But God is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones as John the Baptist had said (Mt 3:9). What makes one a child of God is faith in God’s word—believing it to be true, treasuring it as the word of eternal life, holding fast to it in faith that it is true for you, guarding it in the heart from all enemies who want to remove it, and living according to it, for if what is believed is not lived, it won’t be believed for very long.
The Jews of Jesus’ day trusted in their genealogy, that they were sons of God because they were biological descendants of Abraham. The Jews do this to this very day. They claim to be of God, but they refuse to acknowledge Jesus as God’s only begotten Son, and because of that they do not keep His word. On the other hand, many people claim to be Christians in this life, but they do not hear God’s word, and if they hear it, they do not keep it so that they believe it and live according to it. They live as Paul says, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Tim 3:5). As you approach the yearly celebration of your Lord’s Passion once again, the Holy Spirit puts this conversation between Jesus and the Jews before you so that you might consider your hearing—and keeping—of God’s word, repent of the sluggishness to hear it and the slothfulness in keeping it. The Holy Spirit puts this conversation of before you once again so that you might stir yourselves up with the knowledge that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26).
As God’s dearly beloved children, take care how you hear God’s word, that you hear it for what it is: the word which frees you from your sins and their guilt, a word which, if kept, keeps you from seeing eternal death. For this is a great and precious promise because, unless Christ returns in glory during our lifetime, you will most certainly die. You will taste death like Abraham and the prophets tasted death. But like them you will never see the eternal punishment of everlasting death. Jesus says in John 5:24, “He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” By faith in Christ and baptism you have been born of God and passed already from death to life. Since you have passed from death to life in holy baptism, since you have been born of God through water and the Spirit, because you are of God, because you believe that Christ is the only begotten Son of God, keep His word. Continue to believe it. Treasure it, hold fast to it in faith, guard it in your heart, comfort yourself with it in affliction and crosses, and live according to it. And on the day you die, you will live, because you have lived keeping the word of the One who tasted death for you. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
