Read: John 8:31-59
I am told all of the time that I look familiar. People say that I look like a cousin, a nephew, or a friend of a friend. It’s always someone that is little bit removed from their immediate circle. Even worse, people tell me I look like various celebrities. I went to Kenya on a mission trip when I was in my teens and I couldn’t get away from the references there either. Everyone said I looked like Ross from the show ‘Friends’.
But the one person I definitely look like, and I’m not ashamed to admit it, is my dad. If you were to see us together, you would have no trouble identifying we are related. I’m his spitting image. You can even see a resemblance with my grandpa. What can I say? We have strong genes.
It’s not just that I look like my dad or share a significant portion of his DNA, but ever since I was a kid I wanted to be just like him. My dad was a pastor and even though I was deathly shy, I had no shame in telling people that I was going to follow in his footsteps. Now that I am finally grown up, I can definitely see the similarities in personality as well. I am my father’s son.
The Gospel of John describes Jesus as the Son of God. This is a significant theme in his writing, but particularly in the scene where we find the Pharisees arguing about who their father is.
Ancestry Dot Com
This story stands out for a number of reasons. First, it breaks from the surrounding conversation where Jesus is talking about those who can see the truth and those who are in darkness. Jesus has just declared that He is the Light of the World and following this story He will heal a man who was born blind. Secondly, this story becomes the center of John’s thematic structure. Jesus declares to be the “Great I Am”, giving context to the seven “I Am” metaphors throughout the Gospel.
Here, Jesus is explaining to the Pharisees that they are trapped in darkness, they are spiritually blind and their sin is leading them to death. But if they would follow Him, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.
This, obviously, upsets the Pharisees, so they say that they are children of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. You really have to pay attention to this point. It will come up again later. Moses and Abraham are two of the most important patriarchs of the jewish faith. Both of them play a crucial role in this story. Moses had lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt, but the Pharisees refer to Abraham because he had never been a slave to anyone.
Jesus uses this flawed logic from the Pharisees to spark a very important conversation. These were the religious leaders of Israel, but they were not leading the people toward righteousness. This is evident in the fact that they have rejected Jesus and His teaching. If they were in fact followers of Abraham, they would have recognized Jesus’ authority.
Like Father, Like Son
Children look and act like their fathers. They can’t even help it. They were raised in an environment where certain qualities were passed down through repetition. The Pharisees’ slavery to sin revealed their real father was the devil. Jesus points out the obvious.
As if this were written by a comedian for a sitcom, the Pharisees respond by saying, “I know you are, but what am I?” They accuse Jesus of not being a legitimate son of Abraham and being controlled by the devil. This is how you know when someone has lost an argument. They resort to logical fallacies and lose their ability to reason.
Jesus doesn’t refute the first claim, we will see why in a second, but He makes it very clear that He is not possessed. Notice how Jesus is confronting His antagonizers by sharing the gospel. He’s not arguing to win; He isn’t seeking His own glory. He is sharing the words of eternal life. If only the Pharisees would listen and understand, they could be saved.
My Daddy is Bigger than Your Daddy
Finally, the Pharisees pick up on the point that Jesus was claiming to be greater than Abraham. When they call HIm out on it Jesus makes the most assertive claim He has ever made about Himself, “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
This statement is saying a lot more than you realize. First, Jesus is asserting that He is not a follower of Abraham, but Abraham follows after Him. The Pharisees couldn’t see the family resemblance because they didn’t really know Abraham. Secondly, Jesus quotes what God said to Moses through the burning bush when Moses asked for the name of God, “I Am that I Am.” This shows the Pharisees, who had forgotten about their slavery in Egypt, that it wasn’t Moses who set the captives free, but God Himself. Jesus came to set the people free from a greater bondage, slavery to sin. Third, Jesus was taking the name of God and declaring who He really was. He wasn’t just a prophet or a teacher, He was the Great I Am in the flesh. No one else could accomplish His mission. No one else could set the captives free. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is LORD.
The Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus was saying, but once again they reveal that they were children of the devil, slaves to sin, and lost in darkness. Jesus had declared that He is the savior of the world, but instead of bowing down to worship HIm, they picked up stones to kill HIm.
Doppelgangers
The Pharisees rejected Jesus because He wasn’t what they wanted in a savior. They wanted Jesus to look like them, not the other way around. Unless we fall prey to the same trap, we have to evaluate our lives and determine who we are following after. Are we trying to make Jesus fit into our imaginations, ready to serve us and cater to our needs? Or are we able to recognize who Jesus is, the Great I Am, and humble ourselves in being His disciples?
If we are truly children of God, then we will look like our Father. How do we do that? We have to spend time with Him. We need to be in His word. We need to do what He tells us to do. We cannot rebel against Him. We need to act like joint heirs, not trust fund kids. We bear the name of Jesus as Christians, therefore, we must represent Him in everything we do.
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.