“Surprise paternity”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, March 17, 2023
John 8:33-47 (Forward, p. 47) CEV p. 1112
One of the rather fun, and very, very surprising aspects of many murder mysteries is the revelation of a hitherto unknown, unrevealed family connection. Here, seemingly out of the blue, is a sibling, or a son or a daughter, that no one knew about, someone that has just emerged ‘out of the woodwork’, as it were. And what severely ‘muddies’ the waters is that this person either has a claim to the family inheritance—and so might wish the ‘old man’ dead—or has a serious grievance against him for some past slight or instance of neglect—again, which can be quite a motive for wanting the ‘old man’ dead.
Here, in today’s passage there is also the issue of paternity, and here, as with the murder mysteries, there are some surprises. There are all sorts of people, the ones that Jesus is addressing, that think of God as their Father and Abraham as their forebearer. Boy, are they in for a surprise! Jesus tells them that if either of these things were true, they would not be acting the way they are. If God was truly their father, and Abraham truly their ‘father’ in the faith, they would have loved Him, Jesus, and would not have wanted Him dead. No, quite to the contrary, Satan is their spiritual father and so they do exactly what he wants. And, it only stands to reason, seeing as he is a murderer and the father of all lies, that they habitually resort to the same behaviours. Furthermore, seeing as Satan is also the agent of sin, then they too are subject to sin, and indeed, are slaves to sin.
On the other hand, anyone who truly has God as their Father, will love Jesus and will listen to His message. They will dwell in God’s house forever and will always remain in His family. They will keep on obeying what Jesus has said, and thereby, will know the truth and will no longer be slaves to sin. They will have been forgiven their sin and set free.
In many of the murder mysteries the whole matter of a mysterious and often clandestine marriage and birth was cleared up by a quick enquiry by Poirot or Father Brown, or their agents, at Somerset House in London, the home of the General Register Office. That would definitely clear up any question or ambiguity.
However, in the case of our spiritual paternity, there is no such official body that we can turn to. However, Jesus Himself makes the matter quite clear. Those who love Him, Jesus, listen to His message, and do His will are indeed the children of God, and have God as their Father. Case closed. And so, it is quite simple to know for sure. Accordingly, during this holy Lenten season let us be all the more intentional in our love towards Him—not allowing it to grow cold, as some did in Revelation 2:4, and all the more dedicated to listening to Him and doing His will. Amen.
Forward notes: “I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word” (verse 37).
“My family did not come over on the Mayflower, though some of them came soon afterward. My middle name is Kent, a family name that dates back to the 1600s in America. Most of my other genealogical lines in America are far shorter by comparison. Does it matter that remote family members fought in the American Revolution?
“Does it matter that these religious leaders could trace their lineage to Abraham? Jesus seems to accept the premise of their statements that it does matter. Then Jesus turns the conversation upside down, suggesting they are children of Abraham, but that does not exempt them from the captivity of sin.
“Christians have always claimed that sin enslaves, but Jesus is not accusing them of that type of slavery. Instead, he is obliquely calling them children of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael.
“Jesus accepts the premise of their statements only to make his point. It is faith and not lineage that connects a person to God. And by extension, the same is true for us.”
MOVING FORWARD: “What are the benefits of genealogy? In light of today’s scripture, what are its limits?”
A couple of concluding notes: As much as certainly agree with today’s author that it is faith and not lineage that connects a person to God, I must protest a couple of statements that he makes that either contradicts what is said in our passage or goes far beyond it.
For one thing, he is incorrect in alleging that Jesus is not accusing them of being slaves to sin. In verse 34 Jesus explicitly says to them, “I tell you for certain that anyone who sins in a slave to sin.” He leaves us in absolutely no doubt to the matter.
And while Jesus concurs in their statement that they are the literal flesh and blood descendants of Abraham, He never even once alludes to their belonging to Ishmael, Abraham’s other son. (Unless, that is, He equates being a slave in the usual sense of the word, as with Ishmael’s mother Hagar, with sin, and her expulsion with the idea of not living with the family forever. But that is to borrow concepts from somewhere else, namely the apostle Paul in Galatians 4:21-31). Instead, Jesus alleges that they are the children of Satan: “Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants…” (verse 44a).
So, what is important, nay, crucial, is not our biological parenthood but our spiritual, and what gives us the critical markers of this heritage is not some DNA test, but our willingness to love, listen to and obey Jesus. That is how we prove who we are and who we belong to, who is our true Father.