On Line Bible Study - For the Week June 11 - 17, 2012

John 8:21-30

If you click on the link above you will go to a web site for Bible Gateway.  Notice that verses 12-20 are labelled: Dispute over Jesus' Testimony.  That was the subject of our previous lesson.  This lesson - verses 21-30 - are labelled: Dispute over Who Jesus Is.

It is interesting to wonder just what exactly Jesus thought of himself.  We have a paradox here - Jesus comes into the world with no earthly distinction.  He rather slips onto the planet the way any of us common folk arrive.  Beyond the excitement of the immediate family, we can't say for certain that anyone else was excited that Jesus was born.  (The birth narrative of Matthew and Luke seem to be as much for theological purposes as they are for actual genealogical purposes.  The earliest Gospel - Mark - and the Gospel of John don't find the birth of Jesus as necessary for the telling.  The ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism.)

St. Paul will go so far as to point out that God is emptied of any and all divine prerogative in the birth of Jesus.  There seems to be a paradox between this humility of Jesus on one hand, and the need for him to self-proclaim as "light" and "living water" in these verses of John.  Indeed, this is part of the problem for the Jewish leaders - Jesus seems to come out of nowhere.

You are from below; I am from above, says Jesus to the Jewish leaders (John 8:23).  The question is put directly and succinctly to Jesus in John 8:25:  Who are you?  The answer comes back in somewhat cryptic form - I am he, says Jesus.  The text tells us that people did not understand Jesus was telling them about his Father.  But we are also told that many put their faith in him.

We are left wondering: What is it that tips a person toward faith in Jesus?  What did he believe about himself, and what does he want us to believe about him?

In a couple of chapters we will come to some more I am ... statements that Jesus makes.  For now, we might entertain the question Father Raymond Brown ponders in his commentary on this gospel: How do you explain divinity?