Honoring the Son (John 8:48–59)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 8:48–59

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: September 17, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

A high sense of honor and shame is common in the ancient world, and it still exists in many non-Western societies. We still have some sense of it in the West, though it’s fading, with many of our contemporaries lacking understanding of the importance of a good name and a sound reputation. It is, however, important to understanding the Bible.

For instance, you may remember when David was on the run from a deranged King Saul that he found help from the king of the Ammonites. The king helped David since Saul was his enemy. A while after Saul died and David had become king, the Ammonite king died; so, David wanted to show kindness to his son by sending servants to console him in his time of grief (2 Sam. 10:1–2). That’s an expected honor.

Sadly, the freshly-crowned son, Hanun, received bad counsel from his princes. They developed the theory that David had sent these men as spies, planning to overthrow the city in this moment of mourning. In v. 4, Hanun “took David’s servants and shaved off half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away.” He subjugated them as a conquering king would, making a spectacle of them and sending them, and then began hiring a mercenary army. David responded to this dishonor by lodging the shamed men nearby until their beards regrew while he also raised an army to meet this threat.

David sent men to honor a past commitment, but the people met his emissaries with dishonor. This is, unfortunately, how many of the people in Israel met the prophets of the Lord, shaming and even murdering them. Yet, God in His grace even sent His Son, knowing that, while the same would occur, He could save many from their sins.

As we consider how the Jews here dishonor Jesus, we get an opportunity to see how to honor Jesus. We’ll note the word, work, and worth of the Son of God. If you want to honor Jesus Christ, you must recognize the need to do so in each of these areas. Let’s consider the first:

First, Honor the Word of Jesus (vv. 48–51)

The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”

Before we go any further, let’s remember that this is the same group that signaled belief in Jesus in v. 31. We noted there that they most likely believed His arguments at the time rather than having a full trust in Him. Now, we can see that the fickle people are just as quick to reject Him.

They can’t respond to Jesus’s words here, so they resort to verbally attacking Him. This is a debate tactic known as ad hominem, an attack “against the man,” and it’s typically the signal of a failed position. They can’t argue against the content of what He’s been saying to Him, so they resort to calling Him a demon-possessed Samaritan!

What do they mean? There are a few theories about why they called Him a Samaritan. The Jews, you’ll remember, typically despised and avoided any dealings with the Samaritans (John 4:9). They saw them as ethnically impure, interbred with the Gentiles, and promoters of a demonic false religion with cultic magic — which wasn’t entirely inaccurate, but the hatred for them was ungodly. Their pronouncing that Jesus a Samaritan might indicate that they saw Him as a heretic and, as the Reformation Study Bible notes, “born out of wedlock.” It’s a personal dishonor.

Of course, there’s no lack of clarity as to what they mean when they say He has a demon. Possessed people will engage in irrational behavior. They are implying that calling them ungodly children of the devil is so crazy that Jesus must be possessed. The crowd said this to Jesus previously because they thought He was saying something crazy (John 7:20), and now, they repeat the accusation.

Jesus answers their charges in v. 49. Actually, He only says He doesn’t have a demon; He ignores their ignorant comment about Him being a Samaritan. As evidence, He says He honors His Father, something a demon would not do. The truth is that they dishonor Him, one who honors God, and they should feel ashamed for it.

Jesus continues to provide more proof that He isn’t demon-possessed in v. 50 — “I do not seek My glory.” He didn’t say they dishonor Him because He needs glory from men, for He does not (John 5:41; 8:54). Still, those who are under the influence of the devil are usually self-focused, wanting the world to revolve around them, just as Satan wanted Jesus to bow to Him. Jesus isn’t displaying a demonically driven narcissism.

There’s an implicit warning with Jesus’s next words, though. While He doesn’t seek His own glory, God does. As Jesus says here, there “is One who seeks and judges.” God judges both the righteous and the unrighteous, the living and the dead. His judgement will vindicate the righteous and condemn the wicked.

This is a kind-hearted warning. Even now, Jesus gives a word of gospel hope. He begins with one of His “truly, truly” or “verily, verily” statements. Take notice, He says, for “if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” As one commentator notes, “Christ unquestionably knew that some persons in that multitude were curable, and that others of them were not opposed to his doctrine. For this reason, he intended to terrify the wicked whose malice was desperate, but to do so in such a manner as to leave ground of consolation for the good, or to draw to him those who were not yet ruined.” Those who would truly believe and trust in His words will find deliverance from the wrath to come!

The expression, “never see death,” speaks of eternal life. Of course, as a consequence of sin, even believers still physically die. Yet, the promise here is emphatic, and the Legacy Standard Bible makes a helpful addition here: “he will never see death—ever.” The Lord will never turn us over to second death, separation from God and the condemnation of eternal torment in the lake of fire.

This is for those who honor the Word of Christ by keeping it. In case you’re wondering, the first command to keep is to believe in Him. Trust in Him for salvation. He pays for all your sins and gives you new life, as we’ll study in just a second.

If you already believe that, then follow the rest of His teaching out of thanksgiving to Him. Show yourself to be His disciples. That is the call here — to continue in His word — and heeding the call will help to build assurance in your hearts that He has indeed saved and transformed you for His glory! Honor His word and His work, as we see now:

Second, Honor the Work of Jesus (vv. 52–55)

The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”

So, here we see that their previous accusation wasn’t serious because they say, “Now we know that You have a demon.” The term means that they their experience (their conversation with Jesus) has crystalized the concern of demon possession in their minds. They weren’t as sure before when they said it, but they are now.

What is so crazy in what Jesus says? They continue, “Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ ” They have some variation on Jesus’s words in v. 51, though the sense is the same, as the terms “see death” and “taste of death” are interchangeable Hebrew expressions. They are noting that the spiritual heroes kept God’s Word and died. Can Jesus’s words do more?

Of course, the fatal flaw in their thinking was misunderstanding Jesus to mean that disciples will never physically die. They were taking His words too literally to attack His logic. As Jesus noted several times earlier, they are also contemplating murdering Him, meaning they don’t believe that His words will save Himself, let alone anyone else.

They ask in the next verse, “Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too.” This is one of those questions which expects a negative answer. This is just like when the woman at the well asked Jesus if He thought He was greater than Jacob (John 4:12). Both times, the questioners expect that only demonic-driven audacity would prompt Jesus to answer in the positive. Yet, the irony of this for us, the readers, is that we know He is greater than all of them!

Yet, they are blind to the truth, assuming that He’s full of arrogance and pride like they are. So, they ask, “Whom do You make Yourself out to be?” The King James Version renders this, “whom makest thou thyself?” while the New International Version reads, “Who do you think you are?” This goes beyond just asking if He thinks He’s a prophet or the Messiah; since only God can give life, they may be starting to suspect He is guilty of blasphemy.

Yet, Jesus isn’t going to seek His own glory by stating He’s greater than Abraham. He could and has the right to do so, but He says, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing.” They wouldn’t accept His testimony alone, so He returns to reminding them His Father glorifies Him.

Now, of course, as v. 27 says, they haven’t fully understood who His Father is. That is, until now. He is the one they claim as their God!

This sets them in an awkward spot. If they truly knew God, then they would accept the one sent from God. They don’t, however, because they don’t know God like He does. In fact, there’s a contrast between their supposed knowledge of Jesus’s possession and Jesus’s knowledge of God, and He uses a different term here in v. 55; they supposedly know by experience, but He knows “inherently or intuitively,” enjoying a relationship with God that they did not.

So, Jesus delivers the hard facts. He says, “If I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.” He speaks the truth, but they’re of the father of lies (John 8:44). His use of the term “liar,” as one study notes, wouldn’t have been considered polite in public speech, but it’s a justifiable accusation. They need to understand that they have no defense for their hostility toward Him or their claim that they are following God.

They aren’t keeping the word of God like He is. He proves that by His sinless, impeccable life, in contrast to their unjustifiable anger and contemplation of murder. He further evidences this by the miracles that He works, signs that God is glorifying His Son. He will further prove that He’s keeping His Father’s word by going to the cross.

They aren’t honoring His work. Even so, those who truly know God will recognize the work of the Son and give Him the honor He’s due. That includes honoring Jesus’s worth, our final point:

Third, Honor the Worth of Jesus (vv. 56–59)

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

Remember that Jesus granted them the claim of their physical descendancy from Abraham (vv. 37, 39). However, He noted that they were not doing the works of Abraham. Here, He points out that Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day.

What does He mean by that? All the prophets were looking forward to Jesus’s time (Matt 13:17; Heb 11:13). Of course, this is a clear Messianic claim, and the Old Testament saints believed in the coming Messiah. Still, Jesus means a bit more than this.

He says that Abraham saw this day. Perhaps Jesus is referring to a Christophany, an Old Testament appearance of the Son of God to the saints. There were opportunities for this, like when the Lord appeared to Abraham with two angels to announce the coming birth of Isaac in Genesis 18. The Lord may have also appeared to Abraham on the mountain with Isaac, where Abraham said, “The Lord will provide” (Gen. 22:14). Yet, the text doesn’t say, and that wouldn’t fully explain how he saw Jesus’s day.

So, its possible that this refers to a revelatory vision of the future. The rabbis believed that the Lord had showed Abraham redemptive history at some point, including the coming Messiah. As one resource notes, they “disagreed on how it happened,” but this verse gives credence to that theory. While the text doesn’t say specifically, Jesus says that Abraham somehow saw His day and was glad.

These supposed children of Abraham respond differently! Being unbelievers, they challenge Jesus again, asking how it could be possible for Jesus to possibly be present to see Abraham. They note that Jesus wasn’t even fifty (probably closer to thirty years old, Luke 3:23), choosing “the standard retirement age” to demonstrate the large a gap of time between Jesus and Abraham. They are likely mocking Him.

Jesus replies with a most stunning confession in v. 58. He begins again with the emphatic “truly, truly” statement. Drawing them in with this, He says, “I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

The first thing to notice about this is that this is a play on words. We see this in the English translation. There are two verbs of being — was and am. One is past and one is present. In response to the question of how He could have possibly seen Abraham, Jesus says that He exists before Abraham even came into being. That verb play may be confusing, as we might expect Jesus to say, “Before Abraham was born, I was already,” but the present tense communicates a timeless quality and self-existence.

This also speaks of the presence of the Lord. He was there with Adam and Eve, He was there with Noah, He was there with Abraham, He was with the children of Israel in the Exodus, He was there in Roman-occupied Jerusalem. He also remains with His people today!

Of course, there’s only one being that could make such claims: God Himself. Before the beginning, before Genesis 1:1, God is. This is why God revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM” (Exod. 3:14). There’s no denying that Jesus claims a divine identity here.

As such, we read next that “they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” In a twisted sense, they think they are fulfilling God’s word, which commands capital punishment for blasphemy (Lev. 24:16). Since the temple was still under construction, they likely had a ready supply of stones nearby, but as another study notes, stoning was “supposed to be the result of a calm judicial decision.” In their sinful state, they succumb to mob violence.

However, we read that Jesus was hidden. That is supposed to be a passive statement, that He “was hidden,” mistranslated here. The Father who glorified His Son does so again by veiling Him from the vengeful eyes of the mob, allowing Jesus to slip away from the temple. This further evidences the worth of Christ.

Conclusion

It’s interesting that many unbelievers today still attack Christian teaching by pitting Jesus’s words against it. The assumption is that Jesus is a good teacher who would allow far more than Christians believe He would. However, some people still attack Jesus as an immoral teacher, pointing out His clear teaching. We should expect this to be a cultural shift. Today, like before, there will be more people willing to dishonor Jesus.

The question is how we will react. Will we honor the word, work, and worth of Jesus Christ? Will we accept His claims as true, trusting in Him? Or will we follow the world in rejecting Him?

Understand that Jesus didn’t come to condemn, and He doesn’t here. He offers a word of good news for those who will hear it. If you receive and keep His words, He promises eternal life with the Father He knows uniquely. Call out to Him today for the salvation only He offers; don’t put it off. As He warned earlier in this chapter, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).