The Gospel of John: Hostility in Jerusalem 8:1 – 58

 In chapter 8 the division over Jesus becomes even more intense, ending with the Jews trying to stone him to death.

 Our chapter begins with one of the most famous stories in the Bible: Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. This story is only found in one of the early manuscripts, none of the rest. No early church father mentions this story. And the style is not what we have in the rest of the Gospel. This is why there is this warning in the text. It was almost certainly not a part of the original Gospel. That though does not mean the story did not happen because it is very much in line with the character of Jesus. All the Synoptics tell us, as here, that he was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The story was probably around in the primitive church, written down by an unknown Christian, and later included in this Gospel.

 It was put here, because it fits here. From all that has happened in John 7 it is appropriate that we now read about Jesus being tested by the Pharisees. You have probably heard a sermon about this story, and if not, you certainly will. I would like to correct a couple of things that are sometimes said about this story. The first is that there is no evidence at all that this woman is Maryam Magdalene. There is no name given here. And also, there is no evidence at all that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute From Luke 8: 1 – 3 we find out that Maryam Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus, that she followed Christ, and supported His eam with her own money. So, she was probably from a well to do family. There is nothing in the New Testament about her being immoral.  

 The second thing is about the law. For sometimes all the emphasis is on how Jesus just forgives the woman, as if the law is not important. That is not what the story is teaching. The law is important. Jesus shows this when he writes with this finger in the sand. On the Sabbath Jews were not allowed to use a pen, but they could write in the sand. Jesus is telling the Jews that He knows the law.

 But He is saying more. He is saying that the ten commandments were written by the finger of God. He now writes with his finger. The implication is obvious. These Jews are in the presence of the One who wrote the law.

 So the story is posing a question. How can the one who wrote the law, ‘Do not commit adultery’, not condemn the lady who broke the law. If we do not answer that question we can be left with the dangerous idea that God will just forgive sin, even though the Bible states that God will by ‘no means clear the guilty’, that’s in Exodus 34, just after God gives the commandments for the second time. And in Ezekiel it is plainly written: the soul that sins shall did.

 The answer to this question is that Jesus is in the temple, the place where the sacrifice for sins will happen. Jesus does not condemn the woman, because He was going to be the sacrifice for her sin. It is not that God can just forgive sin, no. When there is sin, there must be a death. Jesus accepts that death for the woman.

 We move to the rest of the chapter. With v. 12 we dive straight back into a discussion that is going on between Jesus and the Pharisees. Again this is in the temple, as we are told in v. 20. This discussion does not end well, for at the end the Jews are trying to stone Jesus. There are three sections to this discussion.

 1. Light and Testimony (12 – 20)

 The Jews during this feast of the tabernacles loved the light that came from the bonfire in the court of the women in the temple. Some would stay up all night, enjoying the light. Now Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world’. This is a stupendous claim, really meaning that Jesus is the presence of God in the world, because light and God’s presence are always together in the Old Testament. And Jesus is very practical. If you follow this light, like the Israelites followed the light in the wilderness, you will find life. Again Jesus is saying that He is much more important than the light from the temple that will soon go out.

 In response the Pharisees say, ‘Hang on, you are just testifying for yourself. Moses said there had to be two witnesses. Jesus – your testimony is not valid. And if that is true that means Jesus is a liar, a charlatan.’ Jesus’s answer to that is that He is working with the Father. So He does have two witnesses – his own and His Father. Here he is no doubt referring to the miracles that speak of God supporting what He is doing.

 This makes the Jews even more upset. And unkind. They ask, ‘Where is your Father?’ (v. 19) This is not a kind question because there was almost certainly a lot of gossip about Jesus’s birth.  People in Nazareth knew that Mary had become pregnant before Joseph married her. So, wherever Jesus went, the question the Pharisees now asked followed him – ‘Where is your father?’ Or, put more bluntly: ‘Are you a bastard?’ Jesus does not answer this accusation, but tells the Jews that they do not know His father. That means Jesus is telling Jews – who thought they were the only ones who knew God, that they did not know God. You can see how the situation is getting worse and worse.

 We are then told where Jesus is speaking, and again there is an arrest attempt, but it fails – because His hour had not come. From a human point of view it is probable that the Jews did not dare to arrest Christ. He had too much support.

 2. Who Are You? Jesus’ answer 8:21 - 30

 In this section we have the most important question anyone can ask. Who is Jesus? It’s in v. 25. And Jesus’ reply is clear. He says, I am who I have been saying I am which takes us back to Chapter 5. I am the judge. I am the life giver. I am the one sent by God.

 And more. In this section He says that He is going away (v.21) – he means he is going to die – and he again refers to this in v. 28. He talks about being lifted up. This is the cross. And it is through the cross that people will know who He is. He is the judge who will be judged.

 3. Abraham (31 -59)

 Some of these Jews have believed in Jesus. There are good reasons. Jesus has said that if they do not believe in Him they will die in their sins. They had seen His miracles. And when Jesus asked, ‘Which of you convicts me of sin’, there was silence.

 However their initial belief was not enough, Jesus wants them to continue. And here we have a tragedy. It is these Jews, who first believed, it is they who get so angry that they try to stone Jesus. Right from the start there is disagreement over Abraham. Jesus says that it is not belief in Abraham, but in him that will set people free. The Jews reply that they are descendants of Abraham. They are the chosen people. They are the good guys. And so they have never been slaves to anyone. (32). This of course is not true politically. The Israelites have been slaves to - – the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and now the Romans. Racial pride can mess up our thinking.

 Jesus explained that He was talking about freedom of sins, but that still is something that these Jews cannot hear, because they have never thought of themselves as being sinners. They were the good guys, it was the pagans who were the sinners.

 Jesus is saying the opposite. Being a child of Abraham is not enough. We have to be set free from sin, not to do what we want, but to do what we ought to do. Jesus acknowledges that racially yes, they were children of Abraham. But in terms of character they are not, because their attitude to Jesus is very different from Abraham’s.

 Jesus is referring back to a story in Genesis. In chapter 18 the Lord appeared to Abraham in bodily form, so this was the second person of the Trinity visiting Abraham. And Abraham’s response was to welcome him, give him a feast, and to listen carefully to what the Lord had to say. That is not what these Jews are doing.

They are not welcoming Jesus, they are not listening to what he has to say – and, worst of all, they are trying to kill Jesus.  So Jesus says you are not behaving like Abraham, you are behaving like your father, the devil, because he was a murderer from the beginning. The conversation is getting darker.

 When Jesus says the Jews are not children of Abraham, this implies that spiritually they are illegitimate. The Jews reject this with ‘We were not born of sexual immorality (41). And you can almost hear them say, ‘like you’. You Jesus are the one who is illegitimate, not us.

 In v 25 the Jews had asked Jesus who He was. Not they give their answer in v. 48. Jesus is a Samaritan. And he has a demon. They have heard about how Jesus spent two days with the Samaritans. That account is in Chapter Four. And now they bring it against him. You are a Samaritan, and so you are an enemy of we Jews.

And you have a demon. That is what explains the miracles you do. Jesus said that these Jews were from the devil, they return the insult. Jesus says He does not have a demon, but He refuses to say that He is not a Samaritan. He does not want to insult the Samaritans. He rejects their racism.

 It’s important to see how in this heated discussion how Jesus still wants his listeners to have salvation. That is why he warns them that if they did not believe in Him they would die in their sins – v.21, and v. 24. And now in v 52 he says if anyone believes in Him they will not die.

 Jesus wants to give them salvation, but they become more angry. They return to Abraham. Are you Jesus saying that you are greater than Abraham? That you are better than the father of our faith. With these angry faces looking at him, maybe we expect that Jesus wants to calm things down. To say, ‘Let me explain, I am not really saying this.’ But he refuses to do that. He refuses to say that He has not heard from God, because He has. He will not lie. He is the One sent by God. And Abraham wanted to see ‘my day’. Jesus does not say, the day of the Messiah. He says, ‘my day’. It is very clear what Jesus is saying.  And  it becomes even clearer. When the Jews say, ‘You are not yet fifty years old and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus replies – ‘Before Abraham, I am.

I am not a Samaritan, I don’t have a demon, I am not even a child of Abraham – because, ‘Before Abraham was, I am’. As every Jew knew, ‘I am’, is the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush. It the name of God. Jesus here is saying, ‘I am God.’  And so the Jews try to stone him for blasphemy, but Jesus leaves the temple. His hour has not yet come.

 Conclusion

 This is a dramatic section, 8;12 – 59 and it’s important to draw back and take in its main lesson. It is this. Jesus causes complete division. And that division is over who Jesus is. So the reader is forced to choose.

 Is Jesus from from heaven, or the illegitimate son of a carpenter?

Is Jesus from God or does he have a demon?

Is Jesus the truth or is He a liar, a charlatan

 There is no middle ground. But many people try to say there is a middle ground. I am sure you have heard people say this about Jesus – ‘Yes he was a great teacher, he was a kind man, a wonderful healer – but no, he wasn’t God’.

 That is illogical. We cannot read this chapter and accept that argument. Because Jesus is here teaching that He is God. If He is not God, he is a liar. And that is not good. No, if He is a good teacher, He is God. If He is not God, then He is a terrible teacher.

 That is the main lesson of this chapter. With Jesus Christ there is no middle ground. You are either completely for him, or completely against him.

Or, you either see, or you are blind, and because this is John, it is the blind who see, and those who see, they don't see...it's all in chapter nine. Click here

 https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-gospel-of-john-i-was-blind-now-i.html