Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost (Series C)
October 23rd, 2016
Gospel: John 8:31-36
Epistle: Romans 3:19-28
Lesson: Revelation 14:6-7
Psalm: Psalm 46
CLB Commentary – Dr. Rich Erickson
Remarkably, Mark’s Gospel and John’s Gospel are quite similar in their broad strokes. Both devote their first “halves” (roughly, Mark 1–8; John 1–12) to revealing Jesus’ character as divinely glorious and powerful, and both devote their second “halves” (roughly, Mark 9–16; John 13–21) to revealing Jesus’ character as embracing that glory in suffering and self-sacrifice.
John’s first half is sometimes called the “book of signs,” because John has selected and narrated seven or eight deeds of Jesus that demonstrate his identity (e.g., 2:11; 4:54). Intermingled among these signs John has recounted various speeches Jesus makes and interactions he has with a variety of people, many of which seemed designed to “unpack” the meaning of the signs. The contrast between Nicodemus, the “blind” teacher of Israel, and the clear-sighted woman at the well in Samaria, for example, tells us something about what it means that Jesus changes water to wine, as in his first sign.
Just as in Mark’s Gospel, now in John’s the population is divided about Jesus’ identity (7:40-43). Some regard him as the Messiah, while others are convinced he is a deceiver and want to arrest him.
The ensuing dialogue in 8:12-59 focuses on the issue of origins: Where does Jesus really come from? But not only does it concern Jesus’ origin (vv. 12-30), it also turns the tables and raises the question of the audience’s origin (vv. 31-59). The first discussion culminates in the listeners’ believing in Jesus (v. 30); the second culminates in their taking up stones to kill him (v. 59). This Sunday’s pericope covers the opening six verses of the second discussion.
The fact that Jesus addresses his remarks in v. 31 to “the Jews who had believed in him” (cf. v. 30) clashes jarringly with their defensiveness in v. 33 and what follows. Whatever it meant for them to “believe in” Jesus, it was not anything for which they would forfeit their own perceived identity. They would not by any means whatsoever abandon their racial heritage or the privileges they attached to it. None of them, presumably, would wish to be associated as a fellow believer with the abhorrent Samaritan woman of chapter 4. Jesus, reading them like a book, ultimately tells them the truth (v. 40): they are children of the devil (v. 44). They may well be descendants of Abraham, but they do not share Abraham’s values (vv. 37-39), and they are not children of God, no matter what they say about it (vv. 41-42). They do not realize what it is that truly enslaves them (vv. 33-34); they cannot even admit how often and for how long they have been enslaved. Even now they are still enslaved—by the Romans.
Jesus reveals his glory in the mighty works he does, but simultaneously reveals his glory in the suffering he endures at the hands of his own people and of the Roman government. At the same time, Jesus reveals the true identity of those who cannot make themselves admit it. Churches are full of us who claim to believe in God, to believe in Jesus, but who find it difficult to face the truth, or who would find it difficult, if the truth were effectively presented to us, including us who preach.
We have heard the old, old story, over and over again. But are we so sure it’s the story as the Scripture tells it? We are Luther’s children and we have never been slaves to anyone. We are Calvin’s children, Wesley’s children, children of the Pope, and on and on. Our parents were members of this church; my family built this church! We come here every Sunday; we give tithes; we teach Sunday school; we are in charge of the kitchen and keep it spotless, even if others leave it messy. This is our church building; we rent it out to an ethnic congregation on Sunday afternoons, but they leave it reeking of their ethnic food! We are Abraham’s children!
We believe, but we don’t believe. We believe, but we take up stones to kill the Jesus we see in Scripture whenever he doesn’t behave the way we have always understood him to behave, whenever he doesn’t behave the way he should behave, when he doesn’t treat us as special as we think we are. The Spirit of Pentecost calls us to repent and to truly believe the Jesus we never knew, the Jesus who actually trod the earth and who calls all humanity—not just us—to follow him to Calvary and to die with him. Then we will “believe.”