Week 3, DAY 5

19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  John 8:19 – 28 (ESV)

The leaders still think Jesus is speaking in human terms, so they ask who his father is. Jesus replies, “If
you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Jesus equates knowing the Father to having spiritual
insight of who Jesus is. If they truly believed, followed and understood the scriptures they would know
that Jesus is the promised Messiah. If the leaders truly knew the Father, then they would know Jesus is
the Son.

Jesus’ time or hour had not come, so they couldn’t arrest him because it wasn’t the appointed time God
had set for Jesus. In this passage Jesus speaks of his still future death and resurrection. He is going to be
crucified, buried and will rise again. When he rises from the dead he will ascend to heaven and no one
can go with him. Yet those who repent and believe will not die in their sins.

The Jews did not know what Jesus was talking about once again as they say, “Maybe he is going to kill
himself since he says we can’t go with him.” Jesus tells them that they cannot understand what he is
talking about because they persist in thinking that Jesus is talking in human terms. He informs them that
he is not speaking in these terms, instead he is speaking in Spiritual terms and they cannot understand
what he is saying because they are not inclined to spiritual things.

They are even more confused, so they ask who Jesus is. These guys are blinded to the Spirit of God and
they are obviously clueless as to what Jesus is talking about. He tells them he is exactly who he has
claimed to be from the beginning. Nothing has changed, he is still the Son of God; but they can’t
comprehend this because they do not even know the Father.
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I’ve often wondered if these Jewish authorities ever came to accept that Jesus was the Son of God. I
believe they did when He was lifted up on the cross of Calvary and glorified by the Father. I imagine
many of the leaders realized all the words Jesus spoke and the actions he did were from God the Father.
Even though many of the religious leaders Jesus spoke to didn’t accept his words, many others noticed
that He spoke with such authority that they did believe and respond in faith.