Jesus answered,… ‘If YOU did know me, YOU would also know my Father... ·I am from the regions above. YOU are from this world... ·…If YOU do not believe that I am he [Gr. ego eimi][i], YOU will die in YOUR sins… ·Whenever YOU shall lift up the Son of Man, then YOU will know that I am he [ego eimi], and that from myself I do nothing, but I speak in accord with the things the Father teaches me; ·…I always do the things which are pleasing to him.' Many people believed in him for his speaking these things. ·Jesus then said to the Judeans who believed in him, ‘If YOU indwell this word of mine, YOU are truly my disciples; ·and YOU will know the truth and the truth will make YOU free.’ ·They answered, ‘We are Abraham's offspring [Gr. sperma] and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say that: YOU shall become free?’ ·Jesus said to them, ‘…Everyone practicing sin is a slave of the sin. ·The slave does not live as part of the household forever; the son does. ·If the Son should make YOU free, YOU really will be free. ·I know that YOU are offspring [sperma] of Abraham; yet YOU are seeking to kill me, as though my word has found no place in YOU. ·I am talking of what I have seen alongside the Father. So then, do what YOU have heard alongside YOUR Father!’ (John 8:19b,23-24,28-38 GH[ii])

‘Our father is Abraham,’ they replied. ‘If YOU were Abraham's sons and daughters,’ Jesus said to them, ‘YOU would be doing the things Abraham did! ·Yet presently YOU are seeking to kill me, a man who has spoken to YOU the truth, which alongside God I am hearing. Abraham did not do this! ·YOU are doing the things YOUR father does.’  ‘We were not born out of prostitution,’ they said to him. ‘We have one Father: God.’ ·‘If God were YOUR Father,’ Jesus said, ‘YOU would love me, for I proceeded forth from God...; ...he sent me. ·Why is it YOU do not understand my speech? Because YOU cannot hear my word! ·YOU are from YOUR father, the devil, for YOU are choosing to carry out the desires of YOUR father. He was a people-murderer at the beginning, for he did not continue in the truth. So there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks falsehood he does so out of his own character, because he is a liar and the father of lies… ·The one from God is the one giving ear to the words of God. This is the reason YOU are not doing so: because YOU are not from God.’ (Jn.8:39-45,47)

These Judeans answered, 'Are we not correct in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?' ·Jesus replied, ‘…I am honoring my Father while YOU are dishonoring me. I am not seeking my own glory; he is seeking it… ·…Whoever keeps my word will not ever see death.’ ·The Judeans then said, ‘Now we know that you have a demon … ·Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead, or than the prophets who are dead too? ...’ ·Jesus replied, ‘If I should glorify myself, my glory would be nothing! My Father is the one who glorifies me—the One of whom YOU say, "He is our God", ·although YOU have not known him, while I know him! Yet if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar—like YOU. But I do...know him, and I keep his word. ·YOUR father Abraham leaps for joy that he may know this my Day. He also was sure of it and greeted it with joy.’ ·The Judeans said, ‘You are not yet fifty and you have seen Abraham?!’ ·Jesus said, ‘…Before Abraham came to be, I am [ego eimi][i].’ ·They then picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself. (Jn.8:48-59)

Jesus came so that we might come to know the Father through knowing him. We do this first by facing our own sins—acknowledging that these too were responsible for Jesus being ‘lifted up’ on the cross. Only by humbling ourselves in this way at the cross can we discover that Jesus is actually more than an ordinary human being[iii]). Only then can we know the full extent of God's love—that he truly is like the father in Jesus' parable of the prodigal, who took his son's shame on himself by running to meet him (Med.#20). Through the cross we come to know Jesus not only as ‘the Way’ [the atoning sacrifice for our sin], but also as ‘the Truth’ [revealing our Father's love for us] and as ‘the Life’ [the model of how we too can walk in relationship with the Father here on earth] (Med.#2). This Eternal Life, however, is for those who not only ‘believe’ in Jesus but demonstrate their faith in him by ‘indwelling’ his word. Indwelling Jesus' word means ‘keeping’ it in the same way that he ‘kept’ his Father's word; for it is our Father's will that we should walk as Jesus did, through his Spirit in us (Med.#52).

Everything that Jesus said, he learned from what he had ‘heard’ during time spent ‘alongside the Father’. And he only did what pleased his Father (Med.#59). Sometimes he spent time with his Father in the morning, sometimes at night, and also in the temple; for knew he could stop and spend time with his Father even in the presence of others. The Father and Jesus are always with us too, to guide us by the Holy Spirit (Med.#51 & #57). So when we quiet our hearts in the Spirit—either to pray or to read the Scriptures—we can see and hear things from the Father that our ordinary activities in this world might otherwise obscure. And in our actions, we need to imitate Jesus by honoring our Father, instead of trying to gain ‘glory’ for ourselves or to preserve our own honor. One way we show such primary concern for our Father's name is by confessing our sins quickly—by living a lifestyle of repentance (Med.#52). Yet when we seek to please the Father in our words and actions, we must be prepared to be misunderstood, even dishonored like Jesus was (Med.#57). But it is precisely at such times that we must remind ourselves, like Jesus did, that we have a Father who does care about the honor and reputation of his sons and daughters. In his time and manner, he will ‘glorify’ us publicly, just as he did Jesus (Med.#36, #47 & #80).

Yet we can only hear from our Father and seek his honor if there is room in our hearts for his word. With these Judean believers, there are two things in their hearts that are keeping them from receiving Jesus' teaching about the Father: presumption and nationalism. They think that Abraham is automatically their father because of their 'origins'—because they are his ‘offspring’, literally his seed [Gr. sperma]. They also presume that they automatically have a relationship with God as their Father based on the texts in the Scriptures, where God identifies himself as a Father to the people of Israel because he made and established them (Med.#A). Jesus, however, emphasizes that a relationship with any ‘father’—Abraham or God—is less about ‘origins’ than about who we listen to and whose ‘desires’ we carry out in what we ‘do’. True sons and daughters of Abraham are those who imitate his behavior. And only those who practice God's word and love the person he sends can claim God as their Father. Alternatively, all who imitate the devil's behavior and choose to carry out his desires are acting like they are ‘from the devil’—like he is their ‘father’.

Some believers today are unable to know the freedom and security in the Father's house because they practice another form of presumption based on origins. Because Jesus is ‘from above’ and we are ‘from this world’, they presume that we can never know the Father like Jesus did. And they have believed the devil's lie, in some Christian teaching, that the devil is our real father because of 'original sin'. While Jesus may enable us to come to his Father, we are only ‘adopted’ sons and daughters. Yet this idea, however, is based on a mistranslation of the Greek word huiothesia.[iv] And it ignores the fact that Jesus often still identifies God as Father to his listeners—like in the Sermon on the Mount (Med.#11-16)—since this is what is taught in the Jewish Scriptures (Med.#A-E).

A second obstacle in the hearts of these Judean believers is nationalism. Instead of receiving Jesus' word, they defend the honor of their birth status and their nationalistic definition of ‘freedom’. Unlike other nations, they have always been free! Thus, the more Jesus probes and challenges their attitudes and behavior, the more nationalistic and defensive they become—even suggesting that Jesus himself is just a demonized foreigner. When exclusive nationalism fills our hearts, murderous thoughts can lead to violent words and actions. Indeed, some of these Judean believers will end up publicly supporting the death verdict given by their leaders, who have identified Jesus as an imminent threat to the welfare and survival of their nation (Jn.11:48-50; Mat.27:20-22).

In one parable, Jesus identifies several other things that can crowd out his word in our hearts. Some believers are unable to grow in a relationship with their Father as free and secure sons and daughters, even though they have heard and received his word ‘with joy’, because the ‘soil’ of their heart is filled with: material things, or unhealthy pleasures, or worries about ‘the cares of this life’, or the fear of pain and the opinions of others (Lk.8:13-14; Mat.13:20-22). Are any of these things crowding out Jesus' words about the Father in your heart? Or is presumption keeping you from experiencing the freedom and security of a maturing relationship with the Father, through Jesus and by the Spirit? Do you also seek to do only what pleases your Father God, because you know that he is always with you and that he has your glory in mind?

Father, you are always with me and you always hear me. You 'seek' my glory; for I know that I will appear in glory with Jesus when he appears. (Jn.8:29,50; 16:32; 11:42; Col.3:4)

So I will regularly stand at my watch, I will look to see what you will say to me, and I will do what I see in your presence and speak only what you teach me through the Holy Spirit (Hab.2:1; Jn.8:38,28; 16:13,16).

[i] For a possible link between Jesus' words, ‘I am he’ [Gr. ego eimi] and the divine name revealed to Moses, see the detailed version of this meditation or footnote ii, in Med.#40.

[ii] The Scripture passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses: pp.141-144.

[iii] Though John believes that Jesus was fully human (Jn.1:14), he sees him as also different from us—as the promised ‘Son of Man’ (Dan.7:12) who has a heavenly origin (Jn.8:24,28), and who already existed long before Abraham was born (8:58; 1:1-2, Med.#58).

[iv] Paul uses huiothesia (literally. 'placement as sons') in Gal.4:1-5 to refer to coming of age, not to adoption (Med.#4). He also uses this word in Rom.8:15,23; 9:4 (Med.#5) and Eph.1:5 (Med.#8) when speaking of the Father's plan for all aspects of our ‘pre-destined’ coming of age.