Sticks and Stones Might Break My Bones But Names Will Never Hurt Me! John 8:48-59

John 8:48-59 Jesus’ Claims About Himself

48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” 49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” 52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” 54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

The Jews play "tit for tat" with Jesus and try to turn the tables on him by telling him that he is the one who is demon possessed not them. Since they can't argue with Jesus' teaching, they start calling him names like "demon-possessed" and "Samaritan". Using the term "Samaritan" to describe Jesus was definitely a huge insult. The Samaritans were a despised race to the Jews and seen as "unclean".

Jesus asks them how he could he be demon possessed, if he came from the Father, and honors the Father in all he does. All you have to do is look at Jesus' teaching, his lifestyle and his deeds to see he is not of the devil. 

“No man can be said to have a devil who honors God; for the evil spirit from the beginning has been the enemy of all that glorifies the Father.” (Spurgeon)

Though Jesus could try to defend himself from such accusations, he basically says that he doesn't have to, since the Father is the judge of all things. Jesus didn't come to glorify himself but His Father, so he did not need their approval. 

Jesus then makes another remarkable comment that would have been quite shocking to the Jews. He further validates his own teaching by saying that if anyone obeys His word, he will not see death. Wait a minute, is this advocating works righteousness? No. Because part of Jesus' word is the word about who He is. Like when he said, "He was the way, the truth and the life". Therefore, the principal part of obeying Jesus' word is to believe in Him to find life and light. 

"When the gospel of the Lord Jesus comes to my soul, and I keep his saying by faith, I am turned completely round. My back is upon death, and my face is towards life eternal.” (Spurgeon)

Again the Jews hearken back to the central figure in the history of their faith, Abraham. By claiming if people obeyed his teaching they would not die, he was in effect saying he WAS greater than Abraham. The Jews are clearly offended and say, "Who do you think you are!" Jesus had already told them who He was, and they were clearly not listening. Rather than listening to Jesus' claims and making a decision based on the evidence, they reacted emotionally and defensively, and then started attacking Jesus. They were also trying to trap him, because if he said he is greater than Abraham that might start a riot. 

Psychologically speaking, when someone feels threatened, or they feel they are losing control of a situation, they will often react and lash out like this in fear. They will demonize the one who is exposing something in them they are ashamed of. 

Rather than reacting and taking it personally, Jesus calmly reasserts the He is here not to glorify himself but His Father. He is not some "ego" or "power trip". His goal is to glorify the Father and do His will not his own. But on the contrary, these Jews DO NOT know the Father, or they would not be acting like this. 

Jesus' proof of knowing the Father is his obedience. Everything he has done up to this point in his ministry was through obedience, and the fruits were obvious in all he said and did. Then, they get in an argument about how Jesus could have known Abraham. Or how could Abraham have seen him, if Abraham had lived around 1,700 years ago. 

Then comes the climax of this story and the linchpin to move Jesus further to the cross as he says, 

"Before Abraham was born, I AM. This is the third time in this chapter Jesus uses the phrase I AM(John 8:24, 8:28), and here in John 8:58. The ancient Greek phrase is ego emi, which was the same term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Jesus’ day to describe the Voice from the burning bush. “All the previous lightning flashes pale into significance before the blaze of this passage.” (Barclay)

There is no more clearer declaration by Jesus of His divinity. If someone claims that Jesus never claimed to be God, they haven't read this passage. And as we see the Jews there certainly interpreted it that way, as they picked up stones to stone him. 

"This demonstrates that the religious leaders understood perfectly what Jesus meant. He claimed to be eternal God, and they regarded that as blasphemy. They felt He was worthy of death and intended to carry it out at the moment." (Guzik)

Jesus then slipped away because it was not yet his time. 

Have you ever experienced someone attacking you merely for saying something that was true? Why in our world does using the name Jesus often draw some type of negative reaction? You can mention Buddha, Muhammed, Joseph Smith, the Dalai Lama, but if you mention Jesus' name it is a different deal? 

Why is the fact that Jesus claimed to be God such an important foundation of the Christian faith? If Jesus were not really God what would that mean?