Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Wednesday, February 26, 2014 Read John 8:39-47 At this point the conversation gets nasty. The confrontation is a high as at any other point in any of the gospel writings. Accusations fly back and forth. The words of Jesus are harsh and pointed. We may wonder why and how things could have gotten so out of hand. The issue hinges on the legitimate children of Abraham. The Pharisees claim that Abraham is their father. Jesus responds by questioning their legitimacy. If they were legitimate children of Abraham they would not be seeking to kill him. Jesus accuses them of having another father than Abraham. The response of the Pharisees is to claim that they are not illegitimate children but that they have one father who is God himself. There is at least a veiled accusation in their response that it is in fact Jesus who is the illegitimate child. John has not told us anything about the virgin conception of Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke speak of Jesus being conceived by the action of the Holy Spirit. Mary is his mother but Joseph is not his father. One can only imagine the scandal that must have raged about all of that. There are plenty of rumors in other sources that speak of the illegitimate birth of Jesus. John may was have known them. John may even have known of the traditions that rest behind Luke and Matthew. He is silent about all of this. But it is not unlikely that he knew more than he has shared with his readers. The veil of illegitimacy hangs over the story. Jesus knows his own identity and origin – he is from God who has sent him. The Pharisees neither know nor accept this as the origin of Jesus. They will not believe this. In frustration Jesus asks them why they refuse to understand. And then the harshest accusation is spoken. Jesus accuses them of being children of the devil. They are children of the devil because the refuse to accept God’s word. Instead they choose to do the desires of the devil who is a murderer and a liar. These are indeed harsh words. They reflect a relationship that has deteriorated to a level of hopelessness. One question worth pondering is whether or not these words reflect the situation of Jesus’ own time or of the time of the final version of John’s gospel. Perhaps we could argue that they reflect both. We have already pondered a bit the situation as reflected by Luke in the book of Acts. There the relationship between some Christians and Jews is viewed much more cordially. To be sure there was hostility at the time of Jesus, but whether or not that hostility rose to the level of this text is debatable. At any rate we can’t help but grieve over the harshness of this text as we find it in John’s gospel.