“The Truth of God in Jesus Christ”

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday)–March 21, AD 2010

St. John VIII: 46-59

St. John’s Gospel records a heated conversation between the Jewish leaders and our Lord. It’s clear from the statements made that the Jewish leaders are rather more perturbed and heated than Jesus is. Our lesson that we just heard is part of a running argument that began a few verses earlier in Chapter 8 after Jesus had come down from the Mount of Olives and had gone to the temple. It was there as He was seated in front of a throng of people eager to hear His teaching, that the scribes and Pharisees abruptly haul in a woman caught in adultery and demand that Jesus say something – something they hope will give them cause to arrest Him. By Mosaic law, stoning was specified in certain cases of adultery. You remember what happens next? Jesus writes on the ground in silence (what we don’t know) until He is hounded again to speak. He then says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” [St. John 8: 7b] Silence ensues, and Jesus writes on the ground again. “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” [St. John 8: 9] And after asking the woman whether any man had condemned her and hearing her response “No man, Lord,” Jesus utters that famous pardon, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and ….” {divorce that no good bum of husband you have, get into a self-help group for wandering wives, and keep enjoying sex with your lover, because sex is never a bad thing, and he’s obviously the soul mate you deserve. And if he and you ever want to tie the knot, let me know. We can’t do it in the synagogue, of course, but there’s this beautiful restaurant up in the big city of Tyre that overlooks the Mediterranean. Great food, a super cool place for a little ceremony to celebrate the new love of your life. Here’s my card. Shalom.}

Hmm, I wonder what translation that was in. I think I’ve misquoted Jesus, don’t you? What did He really tell the woman? “Go and…sin no more.” This woman has just had a powerful encounter with someone who has mercifully and literally given her a new lease on life. She was walking in darkness but was given a Light to lead her out of that spiritual darkness and near death experience. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,” says Jesus next. [St. John 8: 12] That gets the Pharisees going again. “Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true,” they say to Him. And this really is the kernel of the whole argument that ensues. Truth. Jesus is making extraordinary claims about Himself that the Jewish leaders, naturally enough from their perspective, just can’t stomach. But to some Jews who did believe Jesus, His words are self-evident. “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” [St. John 8: 31]

As the argument continues, Jesus defends Himself on the authority of Himself and His Father who sent Him. (At least two witnesses were legally required for testimony to be admissible evidence in a Jewish court.) Let’s pick up the argument with today’s text where Jesus says, “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Of course, that really gets the Pharisees riled up because they believed they were automatically close to God by virtue of being Abraham’s descendents. So they do what people do in an argument that is spinning out of control, they insult Jesus, again. (They’ve already told Him earlier that He was born of fornication.) They call Jesus a Samaritan and say he has a demon. Samaritans, as you know from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, were reviled by Jews as being of mixed blood and not really true descendents of Abraham. And being possessed of a demon would mean that the great deceiver, Satan, had gotten hold of Jesus and had turned Him into a liar. Jesus can only reaffirm that He is honoring His Father and is not seeking His own glory. He then asserts that if anyone keeps His saying, “…he shall never see death.”  Jesus is holding out some hope for the Jewish leaders by referring to the hope of eternal life with God, but the alternative is spiritual death or eternal separation from God, not physical death. Naturally, the Pharisees jump on the literal meaning of “shall never see death” and mock Jesus for suggesting He won’t die when even the great Abraham and the prophets are certainly dead. “Who do you make yourself out to be?” they say threateningly. Jesus then turns the argument back on his antagonists by stating that He isn’t honoring Himself by what He says, but it is His Father who honors Him, the same Father God that you Pharisees claim for yourself. He then asserts He isn’t lying because He knows the Father but they are liars because they claim to know God but don’t really if they aren’t listening to, and accepting, what He is saying. Our Lord then brings in the authority of Abraham again by asserting that “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” This alludes to the fact that Abraham looked for the One who would fulfill the promises made to him by God, including blessings for all nations. In response to what the Jewish leaders see as another sign of Jesus’ demon possession, they make a snide remark, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” Well by now, Jesus has all but exhausted His self-effacing tactics of pointing to His Father as the source of His honor, knowledge, and truth. So He decides to tell them the Ultimate Truth: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” You realize what Jesus is claiming here, don’t you? Recall in Exodus 3: 14, Moses meets God in the burning bush and is told to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But Moses asks what he should tell them if they want to know the name of the One who sent him. “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you.” Jesus is therefore proclaiming His divinity and Oneness with God. This is outright blasphemy to the Jews and they seek to stone Him in their fury, but Jesus escapes. His time has not yet come.

There you have it friends – the truth is, Jesus is One with the Father. We’ll save the theological explanations for how that can be for another time. I would simply like to pose the question – if Jesus is God, what is our response? As professed followers of our Lord, we aren’t likely to take up stones and desecrate the altar. However, there are those in the world who would take up stones, figuratively and literally or worse, and turn them on those who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and carry the name of “Christian”. Jesus must’ve argued for hours with His accusers that day, as recorded by St. John. Do we stand with Jesus and His unvarnished Truth in the face of antagonistic secularists, or Christians who don’t really know what they believe because of conformity to cultural influences and unwillingness to hear and receive the entire Word of Christ? I recently read an excellent article written by the noted Anglican clergyman and writer, John Stott, who stated,

“If we belong to Jesus Christ, we have a double calling in relation to the world. On the one hand we are to live, serve and witness in the world, and not try to escape from it. On the other hand we are to avoid being contaminated by the world. So we have no liberty either to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world, or to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world. Escapism and conformism are both forbidden us.” [John Stott, Radical Christianity, Transcripts from Urbana 03 (http://www.urbana.org/archives/2003/transcripts/radical-christianity-2)]

He points to pluralism, materialism, and relativism as being some critical challenges to Christians, who are too often hesitant to witness to the radical claims of Jesus on our lives. Do we care about trying to “sin no more” or are we complacent about the tough talk Jesus gives at times regarding what we do with our sexuality, our marital relations, our talents, our possessions, our enemies? Do we share St. Paul’s assertion in Romans that “the wages of sin are death.” [Romans 6:23] Do we think all religions are equally valid or do we stand with Jesus when He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [St. John 14:6] And what about “God the Father?” Do we really think praying to Mother God is how Jesus, the apostles, and the Church through the ages approached the the relational nature of the Godhead? Rather let us look to the Holy Mother, the Theotokos or God Bearer, the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the Church doesn’t worship, but venerates as the one who said “Yes” to God. My prayer is that we too say “Yes” to God, all of Him, including the Body and Blood of His Son. For He is the Truth that will set us free from sin and death, and lead us along that narrow path to His throne of Mercy, Grace, and Love for all eternity.

And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all might, majesty, honor, and dominion, as is most justly due this day, both now and forever, Amen.