Just Who Do You Think You Are?

Third Anglican Sermon

Who Do You Think You Are?

John 8:46-59
46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

With your 10 items or less you’re ready to checkout out at Walmart in the express line when a person with a basketful of stuff rushes a ahead of you to the express checkout register. You’re moving along in traffic at the speed limit in the right hand lane when someone comes speeding up behind you, veers onto the right side shoulder, and whips his car in front of you with no room to spare. You’re liable to think, if not say, “Just who do you think you are? Maybe even, “Who died and appointed you God?”

The issue of who Jesus thinks he is is an issue between Jesus and the Jewish leaders in the Gospel of John. Jesus says and does things that make them think he is totally out of line.

Today’s Gospel presents four exchanges between Jesus and unbelieving Jews. Jesus speaks, and the Jews respond.

1. First Exchange: Focus on Faith

46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God
48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

The first exchange occurs in verses 46-48. Jesus asks two questions.

• First Question

Jesus asks them a strange question: Which of you convicts me of sin? Who of us would ask such a question? No one who has known me for any length of time would need to think much before charging me with sins and bringing out the proof. 

St. Paul could ask, “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?” not because
the elect are not guilty of sin, but because Jesus died for their sins and God declares them not guilty. We are sinners, but because of what Jesus did for us God does not condemn us. 

But Jesus knows that he is not guilty of any sin. They think he is a sinner, but he challenges them make a charge and prove it. What evidence can they bring forward that would convict him before God? None. He is confident, because he knows he is not guilty of doing anything God would condemn. Take him before the heavenly Judge, and there will be no conviction.

• Second Question

So Jesus asks them a second question: “If I speak the truth, why don’t you believe me?” If they cannot convict him of any sin, then he must not be liar or they would have caught him in a lie. He must be telling the truth about God the Father, about himself, and about why he has come into the world. So why do they not believe him? What is the problem? What is the hindrance them keeps them from believing?

• Answer

Jesus tells us how to understand this. Those who are of God - those who belong to God - listen to God’s words. That’s true of everyone. If you really know God, you will listen to God when he speaks. Jesus knows that He is God’s Son, that God the Father has sent him into the world to speak God’s word so that people can know God and receive his salvation. The reason these Jewish people do not listen to Jesus and believe him, the reason they are blind to who he is and deaf to what he says is because they do not really belong to God or know him. They think they are God’s people and that they know him but, they do not. The proof is their response to Jesus.

• Charge

Sometimes when people ar confronted with the truth the only thing they know to do is to respond with insults. Now the Jewish people respond by charging Jesus with being a Samaritan and demon possessed. The Jews despised the Samaritans. The Samaritans people came from mixed marriages between Gentile settlers and Jews who did separate from pagans. They had a mixed, impure religion, accepting only part of the Old Testament and refusing to worship in Jerusalem at God’s temple. Jesus himself said the Samaritan religion was based on ignorance and did not lead to salvation. These unbelieving Jews rejected Jesus’ claims, insulting him by calling him a Samaritan and raising the old charge that it was not God at work in Jesus but a demon.

2. Second Exchange: Focus on Eternal Life

49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

The second exchange occurs in verses 49-53. Jesus makes two claims about himself.

• First Claim

     Jesus defends himself by making a            claim about his relationship to the            Father. 

He honors his Father who sent him. A good son wants to honor his father. That is a son’s duty, but, if he loves his father, it is also his delight. It grieves him when his father is dishonored. Jesus honors the heavenly Father, because he speaks the words the Father gives him to say and does the works the Father sent him to do. His whole mission is to please the Father and do the Father’s will. 

Jesus honored his Father, but the Pharisees and unbelieving Jews dishonored the Jesus, the Father’s Son by accusing him of being a Samaritan and having demon. If you had asked them if they wanted God to be honored, they would have said, “Of course!” But they dishonor God’s Son whom the Father sent to  make the Father known. To dishonor the Son who does the Father’s will is to dishonor the Father.

Jesus honored Father, and did not not concern himself with his own glory. Humans are concerned for their own glory. We may not seek the spotlight, but do usually want to have our worth recognized. At the very least we do not want anyone to disrespect us. But Jesus did not worry about what others thought about him. He cared only what the Father thought, and so he trusted himself to the Father whose judgment is the only one that matters. He was confident that theFather’s judgment would be right and that at the right time the Father would vindicate and honor the Son.

•  Second Claim 

• Jesus now makes an astonishing claim: “Verily,verily, I say unto you, ‘If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.’”

 Jesus’ focus is on the mission the Father gave him:“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3: 16,17
Those who receive Jesus words, who believe in him possess everlasting or eternal life. They have it right now. That means they live now a life that is not under judgment and condemnation. They enjoy new quality of life in fellowship with God. They need not fear future condemnation. For them judgment has passed. So for believers physical death leads to life in the presence and joy of the Lord. In that blessedness they wait for their final salvation, the resurrection from the dead.
Jesus had already spoken of this back in the 5th chapter:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live...for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5: 24-29

•  The Objection

This is too much for the Jews. For them, if Jesus says that those who believe in him will not experience death, that is proof he has a demon.The greatest figure of history to the Jews was Abraham who was their father - the father of the Jewish people. After Abraham came the prophets beginning with Moses, the greatest of them, and then all the other prophets of the Old Testament.

Abraham and all the prophets had died long ago. Yet here is Jesus promising that those who believe in him will not die. What can he possibly mean? Who is he making himself out to be? What is he claiming when he says that those who trust in him will not die? It’s just too much.

3. Third Exchange: Focus on Knowing God

54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and
was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

The third exchange occurs in verses 54-57. Jesus makes two more claims about himself.

• First Claim

Jesus speaks again about honor. What he says is or should be obvious. “If I honor myself my honor is nothing.” A lot of people that don’t believe that. Athletes, politicians, entertainers puff out their chests, point to themselves and say, “Hey look at me. See all my accomplishments.” But, as the Proverb says, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips” (Proverbs 27:2). For Jesus the only praise that matters is the praise of the Father, and he knows that he is the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. 

The Father who praises him is the One whom these Jews claim is their God. If the Father is their God, why don’t they do what the Father does - honor the Son? The only explanation is that they do not really know God. But Jesus knows him, and, if Jesus were to do what the Jews want - to deny he intimately knows the Father - he would be a liar as they are liars when they claim to know God.

• Second Claim

Jesus' second claim shocks the Jews. He returns to Abraham, the man the Jews most honor. “You asked me if I am greater than Abraham? Well the fact ist hat Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” 

What does Jesus mean? God made big promises to Abraham that he would be Abraham’s God, that Abraham’s descendants would be like the stars ofthe sky and the sands of the seashore, that kings would come from Abraham’s line, that God would richly would bless Abraham and through Abraham to bless the whole world. Abraham believed these promises, and Abraham was counted righteous - not by works but by faith.

How would this happen? Well it could not go on even another generation unless there was a son, and Abraham and Sarah were childless, and Sarah was now into menopause. Then God sent angelic messengers to Abraham who told him that the next year at the same time, God would give him son. Abraham laughed with joy. “This is too good to be true, but it is. This miraculous son will be the first step in God’s fulfilling his promises to me.” When the son was born Abraham named him “Laughter” or “Isaac.” Abraham rejoiced as the looked forward to Jesus in whom God would fulfill all the promises.

Later, God tested Abraham by calling on him to sacrifice his son. As they approached the place of sacrifice, Abraham’s precious boy said, “Father, we’ve got everything we need here except the most important thing - the lamb. Where is it?” All Abraham could say was, “The Lord will provide.”

 On they walked, and when the altar was built, and the wood placed on it, Abraham then put his only son on the altar. Then God intervened, pointed to a ram that had become caught in the bushes, and told Abraham to take his son off the altar and sacrifice the ram. What joy Abraham experienced as he thought in his heart, “God has provided a substitute, a ram to take the place of my son. 

God’s promises were so big that no human could bring them to pass. It would take God’s intervention to do it. And Jesus, God’s Son who has become also man, is God’s intervention to save and bless his people.

In these ways Abraham by faith looked out into history and rejoiced at what God is now doing in Jesus.

•  Objection

The Jews “push back” against Jesus claim that Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Jesus coming. They say, “You are not yet 50 years old, and you say you saw Abraham? You and Abraham knew each other? That’s preposterous. Abraham died about 2000 years ago, and you haven’t lived even a half century.”

4. Fourth Exchange: Focus on Jesus’ Greatest Claim

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Fourth Exchange occurs in verses 58-59. It is the briefest of the exchanges, but in it Jesus also makes his greatest claim.

• Claim

In response to the Jews’ saying that it was impossible that Abraham and Jesus knew each other Jesus makes his greatest claim: “Before Abraham was I am.” 

Before Abraham came into existence, before Abraham ever was born, I am. Not was, not will be, but simply I am. This is the eternal I am, and eternality belongs to God alone. When Moses and Aaron were about to go to Egypt to deliver the enslaved Israelites, they asked.”Whom shall we say sent us?” God spoke to them, “You say that I AM sent you.” This became the basis for the personal name by which the Jews knew God - Yahweh the Great I AM. This name was so sacred to the Jews that they were extremely careful about using it - fearful that they would misuse the holy Name of God.

Jesus is clearly claiming to be God - God’s Son come to work God’s salvation. He is one in substance - in all that makes God God - with the Father. 

• Response 

The Jews understood what Jesus was saying and they picked up stones to stone him. The penalty for blasphemy was stoning. No trial had been held, but Jesus was so obviously guilty ,and they were so enraged, that they were ready to carry out the penalty. So they picked up stones to carry out the penalty. But Jesus' time had not come to carry out the final part of his mission to save us by dying for us so he was able to escape them and continue his ministry until the appointed time came.

What does all of this have to do with us?

1. Do we know God as he is revealed to us in Jesus? Jesus is the full and final revelation of God. We cannot know God apart from Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can know God or come to God except through him. Listen to him, observe him, most of all see him dying on the cross and rising, if you want to know God. And believe in him

2. Do we honor God by honoring Jesus? Honoring Jesus means trusting him and seeking his glory, not our own. It means seeing in him the revelation of the Father and honoring him as God’s final word and God’s final and complete salvation for us.

3. Do we trust him for eternal life? Do we have eternal life by believing in him? Can we look through death to life with God? Can we look beyond the grave to the resurrection to eternal life? All those who believe in him have passed through condemnation to eternal life. All those who refuse to believe in him remain under condemnation.

4. Do we believe in Jesus as the Great I AM? As God come to us in the flesh? In the beginning the Word already was, and the Word was face to face with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 


Ye servants of God, your master proclaim,
And publish abroad His wonderful name;
The name all victorious of Jesus extol,
His kingdom is glorious and rules over all.

“Salvation to God, who sits on the throne”
Let all cry aloud and honor the Son;
The praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
Fall down on their faces and worship the                  Lamb.

Then let us adore and give Him His right,
All glory and power, all wisdom and might;
All honor and blessing with angels above,
And thanks never ceasing and infinite love.