5th week in Lent, Wednesday – 24th March 2021 – John 8,31-42
Being a son or a servant
Some of the Jews boasted of their descent from Abraham and said that they had never been in bondage. Jesus explained that the difference between spiritual freedom and bondage is a matter of whether one is a son or a servant. The servant may live in the house, but he is not a part of the family, and he cannot be guaranteed a future, whereas the son was at home in the house. Here Jesus may be alluding to the story of Ishmael and Isaac (Gen 21). Both Ishmael and Isaac were offspring of Abraham. But Ishmael was treated as a slave and cast out of the house, while Isaac remained in the house as son and heir. Jesus seems to be saying that ethnic heritage is not enough. Jesus made a careful distinction between “Abraham’s seed” (physical descendants) and “Abraham’s children” (spiritual descendants because of personal faith, Gal 3,6-14). Although the Jewish leaders claimed to belong to Abraham, they were not like Abraham. Abraham listened to God’s truth and obeyed it, but these religious leaders rejected the truth. In fact, they wanted to kill Jesus because He spoke the truth. Abraham was the “friend of God” and fellowshipped with Him in love (Is 41,8). Instead, these Jews did not love God (Jn 8,42), nor could they understand what Jesus taught (Jn 8,43.47).
