The Gospel of John: John 8.48-59

Read and meditate on John 8.48-59.
When Jesus determined the conversation was ended, He left. But not before He had given them – and us – an earful of truth to contemplate.

⁴⁸The Jews then answered, “Is it not the truth
that You are a Samaritan, uncouth
and rude, and that You have a demon?” ⁴⁹He
replied, “I do not have a demon. Me
you would dishonor by thus saying; I
My Father honor, ⁵⁰for I do not My
own glory seek, but His, the One Who seeks
and judges. ⁵¹Most assuredly, I speak
these words to you: whoever keeps My Word
shall never die.” ⁵²The Jews said to the Lord,
“Ah, now we know You have a demon! For
our father, Abraham, is dead; what’s more,
the prophets also. Yet You dare to cry,
‘Whoever keeps My Word shall never die.’
⁵³Are You then greater than our father, who
is dead? Or than the prophets, greater too
than all of them? Who do You make Yourself
to be?” ⁵⁴Said Jesus, “If I vaunt Myself,
My honor counts for nothing. But the One
Who honors Me My Father is, the One
of Whom you say He is your God. ⁵⁵Yet You
have never known Him – never. But I do,
I know Him. And if I should this deny,
and say I do not know the Father, I
would be a liar, just like you. But I
do know Him, and I keep His Word. ⁵⁶And I
know Abraham agrees with me, for he,
your ‘father’ Abraham, rejoiced to see
My day. He saw it, and was glad.” ⁵⁷Then said
the Jews to Him, “Now Abraham is dead,
and you are not yet fifty years of age. Have You
indeed seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸“I say to you,”
replied the Lord, before your ‘father’ was,
I AM.” ⁵⁹They sought to stone Him then because
of this, but Jesus hid Himself, and went
out from the temple, through the midst of them.

- John 8.48-59

Reflect
1. Jesus’ teaching about Himself had been escalating up to this point. In this, the peroration of His teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus put it all on the line. Everything the Jews of His day were missing, He was. And that’s still true today. Explain. Complete this prayer: Lord, You alone are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Help me today to…

2.  His enemies were getting bolder, angrier, and more desperate. But Jesus neither avoided them nor let them rage on without response. How would you summarize Jesus’ approach to responding to the religious leaders in this situation? What can you learn from Him to improve your own witness? Thank You, Lord, for showing me so clearly how to…

3.  What kind of responses to Jesus are we seeing to this point? Should we expect anything other than these, as we live as witnesses to the Lord? How can we prepare to deal with each response like Jesus did? Let me not be afraid of men, Lord, but help me always to…

4.  Jesus “hid Himself” even as He left the temple “through the midst of them.” In one sense, He was already “hidden” to them; this is just another facet of that same phenomenon. Is Jesus “hidden” from people today? Is He passing “through the midst” of the people in your Personal Mission Field, without their seeing Him? Is that in some ways inevitable? And in some ways, is it a situation to redress? Explain. Thank You, Lord, that You have made Yourself known to me, and that You have sent me to make You known to…

5.  Review chapters 7 and 8 to get the full impact of this public disputation between Jesus and the religious leaders of Jerusalem. Why don’t we see public disputations like this in our day? Should churches try to create such public witness for Christ, with debates, audiences, and all the tools of logic and personal witness? What might such a disputation look like, if your church sponsored one? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you composed for questions 1-4.

Summary
“He passed through them and left the place as if their eyes were closed by divine power so that they might not know how he had left from their midst.… Clearly, then, he slipped away from the Jews and, moving on, he performed the work on the blind man. Right after his discourse, then, one miracle was followed by another. This is so since, on the one hand, he was not seen by those who could see (because they were possessed by blindness) while on the other, he gave sight to the one who did not have the natural ability to see.” Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD)

What a tense, powerful, exhilarating witness the Lord gave in these two chapters! Has He, by His example, emboldened you in your witness for Him? Explain.

Closing Prayer
Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!
For He has done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
The LORDhas made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap theirhands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98.1-9

Psalm 98.1-9 (Duke Street: Come, Let Us Sing unto the Lord)
Come, let us sing unto the Lord new songs of praise with one accord!
Wonderful things our God has done: Jesus has our salvation won!

Now is God’s saving mercy known; His glory to the world is shown.
Faithful and kind is God our Lord; earth has the Name of Jesus heard.

Raise to the Lord your loudest voice! Break forth and sing! Rejoice! Rejoice       
Praise, praise to You our God and King, with all our hearts and strength we bring!

Now let the whole creation ‘round burst into song with joyous sound!
Jesus will come to judge the earth; let all proclaim His matchless worth!
T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.