What indicates that the opponents of Jesus are not living as children of Abraham?27
Doing What Abraham Did
Lectio
Listen to these challenging words of Jesus as he speaks to early hearers of his message and to you. Highlight the words that you find most difficult to hear and to obey.
JOHN 8:31–42
31Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37I 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. 38I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”
39They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, 40but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” 42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.
Continue listening to the teachings of Jesus as they are understood through the tradition of his church.
The dialogue between Jesus and those Jews who have taken a hostile position toward him revolves around the question of paternity: Who is our father? To be a child of a father means listening to the words of that father and doing what he does. What does it mean to be a child of Abraham? Is it a matter of physical descent, or something more? If God is our Father, what does that imply? Surely children of the same father would love one another.
Jesus proclaimed that by believing in his Word, his disciples would know the truth, and that truth would set them free (vv. 31–32). His antagonists, however, proclaimed that they are descendants of Abraham, and as Abraham’s posterity they have always been spiritually free and never slaves (v. 33). Jesus responded that it is sin that makes us slaves and prevents us from having a secure place in God’s household (vv. 34–35). To have a permanent place in the household, we must be children of God, a status we receive through believing the Word of Jesus and coming to know the truth. The freedom that results from this personal acceptance of the saving Word of Jesus is a deep confidence and interior freedom that results from an intimate relationship with God (v. 36).
Resisting the invitation of Jesus, his listeners claim, “Abraham is our father” (v. 39). Jesus acknowledges that they are physical descendants of Abraham, just as he himself is (v. 37). But bloodline does not determine genuine sonship and freedom. True children do what their father does. If they were true children of Abraham, they “would be doing what Abraham did” (v. 39). Unlike Abraham, they have not opened their lives to the transforming power of God’s Word. Abraham was a man of faith, from his response to God’s call to leave his homeland to his willingness to offer his son to God. When God sent the divine messengers to Abraham (Gen. 18), the faithful patriarch welcomed them. But the opponents of Jesus have rejected the Word of God made known in Jesus, the heavenly messenger, and are trying to kill him (v. 40).
Jesus teaches that there is no contradiction between being a child of Abraham and a child of God. All who listen to God like Abraham and respond in action to God’s Word are truly Abraham’s descendants. And all these children of Abraham are free children of God, living permanently in the household of God. Indeed, Israel is described in the Scriptures as God’s firstborn son (Exod. 4:22). Since Jesus is from God and beloved of God, surely all those who have God as their Father should accept the one sent from God. Children of the same Father should love one another (vv. 41–42).
After seeking to understand the exchange between Jesus and his opponents in this scene, answer these questions:
What indicates that the opponents of Jesus are not living as children of Abraham?
Who are the true descendants of Abraham? What is required to be identified as a child of Abraham?
How do people become children of God? What are the effects of being God’s children?
Meditatio
Ask yourself how Jesus is speaking to you in this passage and how you can respond with obedience.
Jesus taught, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (v. 32). What is the practical meaning of this verse in my own life?
Does my life indicate that I am a child of Abraham and a child of God? What are the primary indicators?
In what ways has my faith been communicated to me through my family tree? Why is receiving faith from my ancestors not enough to make me a child of my Father’s household?
Oratio
Acknowledge before God the ways you are in bondage to sin and pray in the freedom of knowing that God is your Father.
Lord Jesus, open my ears to hear your Word and open my heart to accept it. Remove from my life all that would distort your Word so that I can experience the freedom that comes from living in your truth.
Continue to pray in response to the Word you have heard . . .
Contemplatio
Rest in the assurance that you are a child of Abraham and a child of God. Trust that God knows you intimately and loves you without measure.
Write a few words that linger from your silent time in God’s presence.
Operatio
How is God forming me as his child as I respond to his Word? What new hope and renewed sense of mission have I received from my lectio divina?