Older than Abraham
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Marvin: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Marvin from the Rebuilding Faith Online Community. I joined the community because I became disillusioned with the church and its members talking and acting nothing like the Christ they claim to follow. The best part about my experience in the community has been discovering that I'm not alone in the way I feel, and that others understand and feel the same way too.
jeremy_2_09-25-2025_112512: Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith. These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts, and today we are concluding. A really long argument that Jesus has been in with the religious leaders in his day. This is throughout the Gospel of John in chapter eight, and we've been looking at this throughout this chapter, and so today we're gonna wrap up this argument that they have been in and we're gonna dive right into it.
Verse 48, we read this, the people retorted You, Samaritan Devil. As you can see, things are going well. Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon? No. Jesus [00:01:00] said, I have no demon in me for I honor my father and you dishonor me. And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me.
He is the true judge. I tell you the truth. Anyone who obey my teaching will never die. Now it's helpful to point out here, Jesus wasn't demon possessed and he wasn't a Samaritan Israelite. So neither one of those were actually true. He wasn't even supportive of the Samaritan theological positions either.
But notice he only refutes one of these two accusations against them. He points out that he is not, in fact demon possessed. And so he seems to be okay with them lumping him in labeling him as this detestable group that they didn't like. Jesus doesn't bother to clarify that he's not actually part of that group, which is, again, this is a subtle way where Jesus [00:02:00] identifies with people who are ostracized, the people who are othered.
He always finds himself in these groups and even though he doesn't theologically aligned with the Samaritans, he's fine getting the ridicule and the criticism. That they get. Then we read in verse 52, the people said, now we know that you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died.
But you say, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? Jesus answered If I want glory for myself. It doesn't count, but it is my father who will glorify me. You say he is our God, but you don't even know him.
I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you. But I do know him and obey him. [00:03:00] Your father, Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad Jesus is just giving it right back to them. Jesus is gonna reference here, one of the most famous. Israelites of the past, and then he claims that he knew him.
Like, oh yeah, I know Abraham. And you could just imagine them going, what? Like how on earth? It's like saying, Hey, did you know that I'm friends with Abraham Lincoln? Like, yeah, I knew him. Like, you look at me like that doesn't make any sense. How on earth can you claim that? Now, let's unpack this for a moment.
Israelite theology made room, it allowed for God to appear in human form.
So the issue they have was not that Jesus could not be Israel's God in human form, as if that couldn't be a thing. Their issue is that [00:04:00] God in human form wouldn't be Jesus. Right. So basically like a, yeah, yeah. We know God has appeared to people, but God doesn't look like you. So again, understand this debate here, they're fully aware that God can show up.
God can manifest who God is, but they think if that were to happen, it would not look like Jesus. And Jesus is making the exact opposite claim. Like, yeah, absolutely I am God. And even Abraham was looking forward to seeing me, to seeing the way that I represent God to humanity. Verse 57, the people said, you aren't even 50 years old.
I love that. Age is always a a put down. Here you aren't even 50 years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, [00:05:00] I am. At that point, they picked up stones to throw at him. Right? He's pushed 'em too far. That's the final thing. No, no, no. You can't say that.
But Jesus was hidden from them and left the temple. You know, an argument's good when at the end of the argument people start picking up rocks to throw at you. I mean, like that's how intense. This debate, this disagreement has become so they bring sarcasm. You're not even 50 years old. How on earth would you have known Abraham?
And rather than swatting that or dealing with that, Jesus just takes it up a notch. Not only does he know Abraham, but he proceeded Abraham. Which if you were having a hard time thinking you're not old enough to know Abraham, you can really imagine how this one would've just pushed him over the edge.
Like, how would you have proceeded Abraham? That makes [00:06:00] no sense, unless Jesus actually is God. Now, this actually takes us back to the very beginning of this book of John, the verse that we started with all of this. John chapter one verse one. In the beginning, the word already existed. The word was with God, and the word was God.
Now, this is your friendly reminder that John chapter one, verse one is not talking about the Bible. The word of God is not the Bible. The word of God is Jesus, and Jesus is giving a call back to this. I have always been, I proceeded Abraham. So if we're reading that verse, we're going, no, that's the Bible.
There was no the Bible at the beginning, right? In Genesis, there was no, the Bible that didn't exist. It makes no sense to make that claim, but Jesus did. And so Jesus is saying, Hey, [00:07:00] I know you think Abraham so far above me. Not only do I know him, I preceded him and he has been waiting to see me. I mean, you can just imagine how this would've been so hard for them to process.
But it turns out that for a lot of people then and now, Jesus is not the kind of God we're interested in, right? If we want God to take on human form, many of us, if we're honest, we don't want it to look like Jesus. We would want some other kind of God and much more powerful, much stronger God to follow than the version that we get.
Jesus. And yet when we look at Jesus, we see something profound and remarkable. I love the way that the author John Fugelsang has recently written this in his book. He said Jesus was a peaceful, radically nonviolent, revolutionary who wasn't American and never spoke English, who hung [00:08:00] around lepers, hookers, and crooks.
Never sought tax cuts for Rich Nazarenes was anti wealth and anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer too. Matthew six five. Never asked lepers for a copay. Never called poor people lazy. Never even slightly anti-gay. Never mentioned abortion, supported paying taxes and was a long-haired community organizing authority, questioning anti slut shaming, brown-skinned Palestinian, unarmed homeless Jew.
But only if you believe what's actually in the Bible.
Oh, it's so good. Yeah. Yeah. That's what. That's what Jesus looks like. That's the God that Jesus reveals. And yet, if we're honest, many of our arguments we, we want a God that looks way more like Abraham, a God that would be in favor of power [00:09:00] and influence and success. But Christianity is believing the simple message.
Not only has God appeared to us, has God revealed who God is to us? But it looks like Jesus and God has always looked like Jesus. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
