John 8: I was blind but now I see!

Have you ever talked to someone who just refused to listen to your side of an issue. No matter what you said, no matter how solid your case, they just were unwilling to see your perspective. My husband, my children, my students... usually they are the people closest to us who refuse to concede to our views. In Jesus day, the pharisees must have frustrated him to no end. No matter how hard he tried to explain to them who he was, the son of God, the Jews could not and would not reprocess the dusty doctrine of their forefathers in order to see the words of old in a new light.

Using the Jew's own sacred words to reveal himself to the Pharisees, Jesus struggled to secure their acceptance of his professed identity. In John 8:17-19, Jesus reminds the pharisees, "In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true; I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me."

"Where is your Father?" they challenge him.

The words Jesus utters next nearly lead to his arrest. He accuses them, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also."

The Jews are appalled by Jesus and what they perceive as blasphemy, and when they continue to doubt him, Jesus warns the Jews, "You will die in your sins." Unless they resolved to believe that he was sent by the Father, Jesus charged the Pharisees, they would never truly know his Father.

Next, Jesus calls out the Pharisees for planning to kill him. In John 8:39-40, Jesus again uses the Old Testament to support his words, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I hear from God; this is not what Abraham did."

The familiarity Jesus claims to have with the prophet Abraham does not help his case. In fact, the Jews condemn Jesus even more for his references to their sainted hero. When Jesus advises, "If any one keeps my word, he will never see death," John 8:51, the Jews are right on him, ready and willing to take Jesus down. How dare he claim everlasting life when even Abraham, who knew the Father, died in the end.  But Jesus goes even further and states that he existed long before Abraham and that Abraham was present to see him in all his glory as the son of the Father, and that Abraham rejoiced in him. The Jews are certain at this point that Jesus is possessed with the devil. Consequently, as heated arguments sometimes lead to anger and anger can lead to violence; the Jews began throwing rocks at Jesus believing him to be a heretic. Jesus retreats, however, understanding that the minds of these men are closed.

Opening up a mind to new truths is very difficult, especially when generation upon generation of families and people have always believed a certain way. I am also guilty of standing my ground on more than one occasion, in fact, the older I get the more I find myself clinging to old truths that I rationalize are more right and more God centered than those of today's culture. As the Jews in the temple, I lack tolerance for what appears to me as ungodly. If Jesus were to return in flesh and challenge my views on some of my guarded convictions, would I be just as stubborn? This chapter of John confronts us with our own narrow-mindedness, our own spiritual blindness. Years ago I read the Joshua series. These novels written by the author Joseph Girzone characterize Jesus, returning to live among us, as a man who calls himself Joshua. Joshua travels to various communities and lives among the people. He arrives in places in need of a spiritual revival, places where because of cultural, social, and family struggles, the people have closed their minds to the living Word of God. If Joshua appears on my doorstep, would I accept him, his views? It is a series worth rereading especially in this season of Lent. God's word is alive, we must remember. It is not meant to gather dust or to function only in strict and refined circumstances. It breathes, it exists, it is present, new, and everlasting.

The message of John 8, therefore, is this. If we choose to stay tied and chained to the past, then the life God has planned for us will not be realized. "He who is of God hears the words of God," John 8:47.