Over Their Heads

At first, you want to believe, but then?

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. - John 8:51–59

I know this sounds bad, but you really can't blame these folks for wanting to stone Jesus.

What he was saying was crazy.  Good crazy, but then bad crazy as well.

The idea that you could live forever is somewhat appealing at first.  Abraham lived into his hundreds, so why not?

But then, can you really believe someone who says he was around before Abraham?

This could just be another kook, a crazy person looking for attention.

I wonder if the picture John paint of Jesus is a little too much for people to accept, unless they already believe and want a deeper relationship with Jesus.

So much of John's Gospel has been turned into songs that it makes me think John was writing for those who wanted more.

It is as if Luke, Matthew and Mark are the intro course to Christianity and John is the advanced course.

Once you have the basics, go all in with John.

So, no wonder the people of his day rejected Jesus.

Most of what he was saying was just way over their heads.

More to come...