Wednesday 26 July 2023

Psalm 78:1-7

Background

The dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees and others continues from Monday’s reading (John 8:12-20) in which Jesus’ claim to be the 'light of the world' was challenged on legal grounds. The Pharisees said that a witness was required to verify Jesus' testimony, so testimony by Jesus speaking on his own behalf was not good enough. This gave Jesus an opening to proclaim that there was a second witness –the Father (God) – and that he and the Father were united.

In today’s passage (vs 21-30) Jesus initiates the dialogue, saying that he is going away and they can’t go where he is going. This they apparently hear as a threat that he’s going to kill himself. Was this a serious suggestion or just a jibe? Suicide is forbidden in Jewish law, a view upheld by orthodox Jews to this day, so it’s surprising that the Pharisees didn’t press the point. Instead, Jesus continues in belligerent tones, insisting that his opponents are going to die in their sin because they will not acknowledge who he really is.

This view of Jesus is a long way from 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild'  patting children on the head in nice pictures on the Sunday School wall.

The Pharisees then ask a question that is central to all the gospels: "Who are you, Jesus?" The  account of the life of Jesus in Mark's Gospel in particular seems designed specifically to provoke this very question, and the matter comes to a head in Mark 8 on the road to Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asks the disciples “Who do you say that I am?” Intriguingly, in the reading today Jesus makes no effort to answer the Pharisees’ question. Instead, he continues in belligerent fashion implying that talking to them is a waste of time. They will only realise who he is after they have secured his death.

Unproductive as these conversations may appear, John comments that many believed in Jesus as they heard him.

To Ponder:

• How do you square Jesus’s belligerence and, frankly, rudeness, in these dialogues with the common image of him as gentle, understanding and kind?
• When is it right to be rude to anyone?
• How might the dialogue with Pharisees have led some people to believe in Jesus?

Prayer

Lord, father of our saviour Jesus Christ, show us yourself in him, in all his fullness. Amen.