Monday 30th October
Read John 8:48
“The Jews answered him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?’” (NIVUK)
How long into a conversation with someone do you get before you stop listening entirely? One suspects that the Jewish people arguing with Jesus have been engaged so far because they felt they should give Him a hearing as a fellow Jew. There was at least some ethnic empathy, some common ground. However the longer they listened, the stranger the things Jesus said, the closer they came to breaking point.
Finally, after not only questioning their paternity as children of Abraham but then assigning their paternity to the devil based on their behaviour, the Jews have cracked. Only a Samaritan would be crazy enough to argue that the Jews weren’t truly children of Abraham – a long lasting ethnic conflict indeed. More than that, to go further and say that they were demon spawn could only mean that Jesus had lost touch with reality.
From one perspective you could argue that they have been incredibly patient to even listen for as long as they have. Yet the truth is that they have not listened for long enough – for they have heard nothing. In the language of CS Lewis’ trilemma, they have listened through the ‘liar’ phase, stopped at the ‘lunatic’ phase – and failed to consider Jesus is ‘Lord’ at all.
Is that one of the lessons we can learn from this ‘conversation’? Should we be more patient with those we think are plainly speaking nonsense? What would we learn from being more humble and curious about how someone else thinks?
