It was the year 29 C.E. Jesus was 32 or 33 years old. The day started as just a normal day in a world controlled by the Romans. Tiberius was supreme ruler of this empire of the western world, but there was not a chance emperor would notice anything that was happening anywhere but the mighty city of Rome. He let underlings handle the trivial problems of outlying regions. Tiberius was unaware of the significance of this day. But what happened wasn't up to Tiberius. It was up to Jesus, and he changed the temperament of the world from that day forward and put in motion the day that would open heaven for membership for every human ever to live on the Earth thereafter.
Jesus had grown up in in the remote Roman province of Galilee, so this day in 29 C.E. was just a normal day in that region too. Galilee was a Jewish province but it was north of the main Jewish province of Judea. That meant Jesus wasn't so apparent to the mainline Jews of Judea. There, Jews' daily routines were the subject of scrutiny by the three groups of people. The scholars of the Talmud made it a point to emphasize the details and ramifications of the Hebrew writings with the appropriate interpretations of generations of rabbis who had gone before. Their followers, the Pharisees, practiced the Talmud as strictly as their scholars presented it. The third group, the Sadducees, followed the Hebrew writings but allowed for a bit more practicality.
There was a bit more freedom around the north end of the lake in Galilee. Their overall beliefs of the Hebrew writings were every bit as sacred in Galilee. It was just that the oral traditions of the Talmud were not deemed so necessary for daily living as they were in Judea. However, synagogues existed in all Jewish areas outside Judea in order to perpetuate properly what it meant to be a Jew.
Jesus had spent the previous 2 1/2 years mostly around the lake, but he had determined at that point to take his teaching to Jerusalem. The scholars of the law and their followers, the Pharisees, wanted to smoke Jesus out for his false teaching since he had come onto their turf. They had several issues with Jesus' teaching, but one of the most absurd was that he was the messiah of Yahweh (Yahweh means "I AM").
God's messiah was one of the strongest beliefs and wishes of the people. They had been looking for God's promised messiah to come to deliver them for at least two hundred years, maybe more. Some understood that God's Chosen One would set up an Earthly empire, deliver the Jews from Roman rule, and usher in an age in which God's chosen people would be favored again of all the people on Earth. Others believed that God's messiah would bring judgment on all the surrounding nations, and only God's people would be left on Earth to worship the one true God. Still others thought that a resurrection of God's righteous Jews would play into the Messiah ushering in a new age. No one seemed to know for sure what to expect with the messiah, but there was an anticipation that it might happen soon. About 130 to 170 years before Jesus, the Macabees had led their rebellion against the Greek empire. Shortly before Jesus flashed onto the scene, a series of three men had led insurrections against the Romans. Those attempts were to help the messiah bring down empires. It seemed that that's what the people were expecting. Some people even thought God could even name one of the instigators of these rebellions as the messiah and set up an Earthly empire.
So, even though this day in 29 began like normal in Jerusalem, it turned sour very quickly. Jesus began teaching about God and his realm. Expectations for a messiah were definitely in the air. One of the reasons Jesus had used the term Son of Man in Galilee and again on this occasion in Jerusalem was to identify himself with the messiah. Jesus also said he was the light of the world and his light would lead them to life (life being their idea of a new empire). The Essenes south of Jerusalem had quite a gathering that were claiming to be the children of light. They had quite the radical gathering in Qumran. They were a group that actively looked for the messiah to come from one of themselves and deliver the Jews who had kept themselves pure.
The two elements, claiming to be the messiah and the light of the world irritated the Jews in Jerusalem, but there was something additionally that really separated Jesus' teachings from what the Jews were expecting of a messiah. The idea of God as Jesus' father had smoldered and smoldered for about two and half years. There were times when sparks flew between Jesus and some of the Pharisees about the use of God as father. But there was a line in the sand most of the time that no one crossed. The result of crossing the line would have meant that Jesus would have had to stand trial in front of the Sanhedrin court. He had been such a popular teacher, a trial would upset the nest on the ground they had created with the Roman Prefect Pilate to more or less rule themselves.
On this day in 29 C.E., after the two and a half year mark of Jesus' public teaching, the line in the sand disappeared. John 8 tells the account of the story. It was combative, verbally affrontive, condemning, and offensive on the part of both the Pharisees and Jesus. It was the moment in time that the evidential countdown to crucifixion began. It flared like the other times when Jesus mentioned God as his father, but Jesus had had enough. The Jews forced the issue for crystal clear words, and Jesus obliged them. They both crossed their line in the sand. And, Jesus was VERY clear about his intention and his significance.
Jesus began his teaching in verse 12 about light.
Verse 12
Πάλιν οὖν αὐτοῖς ἐλάλησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων· ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου· ὁ ἀκολουθῶν ἐμοὶ οὐ μὴ περιπατήσῃ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, ἀλλ’ ἕξει τὸ φῶς τῆς ζωῆς
(Again Jesus spoke to them. "I am the light of the world. The one following me will never walk in darkness but will possess illumination for living.")
Verse 19
ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ σου; ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· οὔτε ἐμὲ οἴδατε οὔτε τὸν πατέρα μου· εἰ ἐμὲ ᾔδειτε, καὶ τὸν πατέρα μου ἂν ᾔδειτε
(Thus they asked him, "Where is your father." Jesus answered, "You neither know me nor my father. If you had known who I was, you would have also known who my father was.)
This was offensive to the Jews. Here he was sitting in the temple treasury area, an area supported by good Jews, and he proceeded to tell them that they didn't know his father. They were the chosen people of the God whom Jesus called his father. They took a little time to contemplate their next move, which came only a little bit later in the day when Jesus started teaching again. This time the discussion was more intense.
Verse 21
Εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν αὐτοῖς· ἐγὼ ὑπάγω καὶ ζητήσετέ με, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε· ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν
(He said to them again, "I am withdrawing from you. You will look for me, but in your failure to find me you will be dead men because where I am withdrawing to, you cannot come.")
Verse 23
καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ὑμεῖς ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἐστέ, ἐγὼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω εἰμί· ὑμεῖς ἐκ τούτου τοῦ κόσμου ἐστέ, ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου
(He said to them, "You are from below, I am from above. You are from this world, I am not from this world.)
There is a nice pun in the first part of Jesus' statement. Jesus wanted to show distinctions so he used the words for above and below, which at times were used geographically for north and south. One part of the pun was that he was from the north, the Pharisees from the south to show the difference between how he and the Jews practiced following the written Old Testament. Of course, the second part of the statement showed that Jesus had a little more in mind than merely geography to show that how they followed God was diametrically opposed to his way. John says some actually believed him. Jesus spoke to them, and in so doing said something the nonbelieving Jews still listening could not and would not stand for.
Verse 28
εἶπεν οὖν [αὐτοῖς] ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ὅταν ὑψώσητε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τότε γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ ποιῶ οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ καθὼς ἐδίδαξέν με ὁ πατὴρ ταῦτα λαλῶ
(So Jesus said to them, "When you have raised the son of man, then you will know that I AM. I don't do a single thing based on my own choosing, but I speak the things my father has given me.")
Even in conflict, Jesus' choice of words are so well chosen. ὑψώσητε (you have raised) is the same word used in the culture at large of people raised to high positions in government, something on the order of exalted or promoted to a high position. Jesus had used another pun to show that the Jews would raise him in crucifixion and raise him to a position above them - way above them because he used God's name, I AM (Yahweh) for his position. Of course, that statement also turned the discussion to Jesus' father again. The Jews told him they couldn't go with God being his father, and they themselves were children of Abraham. That prompted Jesus to pass the point of no return.
Verse 42
εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· εἰ ὁ θεὸς πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἦν ἠγαπᾶτε ἂν ἐμέ, ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνός με ἀπέστειλεν
(Jesus told them, "If God were your father, you would have welcomed me too because I came from God. I haven't even come here because of my own doing but because he sent me.")
Verse 44
ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστὲ καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν θέλετε ποιεῖν. ἐκεῖνος ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἦν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐκ ἔστηκεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν αὐτῷ. ὅταν λαλῇ τὸ ψεῦδος, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖ, ὅτι ψεύστης ἐστὶν καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ
(You are from your father, the slanderer, so you want to do what your father wants to do. He has deceived people from the beginning and has not represented the truth since truth does not reside in him. Whenever he speaks, he speaks lies of his own accord because he is a liar and the originator of lies.)
Verse 47
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούει· διὰ τοῦτο ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἀκούετε, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἐστέ
(Someone from God hears God's words. That's how I know you aren't from God. You don't hear his words.)
The Jews were infuriated. In their eyes he called them illegitimate children of Abraham, recalcitrant people who didn't recognize God's teaching, and finally children of the Slanderer himself for lying to others that Jesus' message was not truth. That was definitely across the line that had been drawn in the sand. Yes, definitely, Jesus and those scholars with their followers, that day, deliberately set in motion the wheels that caused his death shortly after.
After all of this explosive discussion, there is yet one other tasty morsel. It was as if Jesus had not said the one thing that they were looking for to condemn him on "legitimate grounds." So, Jesus gave them the blasphemous words they had been waiting to hear in order to kill him. The Jews had just finished angrily retorting to him that Abraham couldn't have said he was glad to see Jesus because Jesus wasn't even half a century old, and yet he had seen Abraham who had lived centuries ago.
Verse 58
εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί
(Jesus told them, "I assure you. Before Abraham was born, I AM.")
That was it! There was nothing more to hear. He had made himself equal to God. Unimaginable! He used the name I AM (Yahweh) for himself. It was pure blasphemy! He had to go!
The day had started just as it always had in 29 C.E. in an unimportant corner of the Roman Empire. I don't know why Jesus chose that particular day to cause the countdown to his death, but that was the chosen day.
That day changed everything about everyone's conception of God because there was a resurrection that followed his death that proved Jesus was God's truthful representative. And even though today is just another normal day in the year 2016 C.E., it's a far cry different from the day that started out normally in 29 C.E. On that day, Jesus was called into question for calling God his father. Today, I call God, "Father, Daddy, Papa," naturally, because it's the truth and has an unnatural resurrection to prove it. The alternative is not to believe it and be a child of the father of lies. I am sticking with Jesus on this matter. He was, still is, "I AM" with his father I AM.
I AM... forever grateful you crossed the line.
[I am using the year 4 B.C.E. as the date of Jesus' birth because it has more evidence than 7, 6, 3, or 2 B.C.E. suggested by others. I also am using 2 1/2 years for Jesus' public teaching because the timelines are not clear in the gospels.]
[The Greek text used is the Nestle Aland, 28th edition.]
[Introduction picture - Radiance by Simon Cook]
[Picture for verse 12 - Zion by Jeff Haynie]
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