[This is a repost while I am away on leave]
About a month ago I had a conversation with my eldest child. He is a voracious reader and I often find him with his nose inside the children’s encyclopedia. On this particular day we were driving to school when he told me that both the merchant and artisan classes in feudal Japan were considered to be a of a lower class than the peasants. I had watched way too many BBC period dramas with my wife to believe that! Surely the peasant class would be at the very bottom of the social hierarchy… I mean that is how it worked in Europe so surely that’s how it should work in feudal Japan. Turns out that the peasant farmers were considered absolutely essential for the food production of the nation, and so they were ranked just underneath the Samurai class. Artisans produced goods, but weren’t as useful as the peasants, and so they ranked lower. Merchants, who produced nothing and only profited from the labours of others, were considered to be in the lowest of the social classes. When my son told me this, I didn’t believe him at first.
Now in our passage, Jesus faces a similar situation, although of much greater proportions. He told the people who he was but they simply can’t seem to wrap their heads around his claims.
Scripture: John 8:48-59 (ESV)
The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
This crowd could not accept what Jesus was saying here. They accuse him of having a demon. Now on the one hand, I think I can sympathise with them. Imagine if you were talking to someone today and they told you that if you obeyed their words, you would never see death… You would consider that person crazy. These Jews had been taught from a young age how special they were because they were descendants of Abraham, and now someone was standing before them claiming to be even greater that Abraham. I think I can understand why they wanted to reject Jesus’ words. However, just because they felt that they were right, did not mean that they were right. Facts and feeling are often not the same thing.
So Jesus directly challenges them. He tells them “Before Abraham was, I am”. The Jews get so angry at Jesus for this, that they pick up stone to stone him to death on the spot! Now this sounds odd to us living today, because we don’t understand the context of the time. In saying “Before Abraham was, I am”, Jesus claimed God’s name for himself. He tells them that he is divine. That is why they want to stone him. They thought he was blaspheming the Almighty.
Just like I initially threw out my son’s claim about feudal Japan, just because it didn’t line up with what I thought I knew, so too these Jews in the passage threw out Jesus’ claim because it didn’t fit with how they thought God acts in the world.
This is something we need to wrestle with because we too put God in a box. We can limit our attentiveness to God’s actions in the world because we think God could not possibly work through that situation, or through that person. These Jews had I AM standing right in front of them and they didn’t see him.
What about us? Where is I AM working that we can’t see?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, please help me be attentive to your work in the world and in my life. Help me to see what you are doing and then help me to serve you in that work. Amen
Spiritual Challenge
Think about your life. Are you resisting God’s work in one area simply because you don’t think God can work in or through that?
Before Abraham Was... Wait, What?