Warning of the "Yo Daddy" of the World

Scripture: “Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You’re doing what your father does.” “We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.” John 8:39-41

Observation: After all the debates and challenges that go back and forth between Jesus and the Pharisees, this one breaks down into insults ... it is similar to modern day 'yo mama' insults (in this case 'yo daddy'). Jesus states that the Pharisees claim to be children of Abraham, but by rejecting the truth - something Abraham never did - they are behaving like their true 'father', satan. The Jews at first declare and repeat that their father is Abraham, then retreat and declare their father is God, to which Jesus points out he is the true son of God, sent on the mission of the Messiah, and their inability to understand that reinforces that they are under the sinful influences of their true father.

Throughout it, and perhaps because of the nature of the back-and-forth, there is a total inability by the Pharisees to even listen to Jesus. They just hear insults, and attack with nit-picky points (such as how a young man could claim to have met Abraham) and throw out wildly false statements (that Jesus is actually from Samaria). They have JUST asked Jesus to explain who he is, and Jesus is literally telling them ... he is the Son of God, sent by the Lord on the promised Messianic mission of salvation of all. Jesus adds to this that, effectively, if they can't tell that he is the Son of God, then they must not be children of God, and they are not behaving like children of Abraham who always took the Lord's word as absolute truth on faith alone ... and in response they come emotionally unglued.

Application: In all seriousness, I had thoughts in my head last night about this ... when people have a reaction to me in a manner that doesn't connect logically, it has nothing to do me, but rather it has to do with them and their past, and specifically how they have ingested the way the world 'is' and thus have learned to respond in some worldly way or under some worldly influence.

What I didn't think of on my own last night was that "worldly" also means "satan-influenced".

As Jesus said, satan is the source and father of lies. He deceives and destroys, and for those who choose to live within this deceitful construct of the world around us, he creates behavioral patterns that harm and hurt others. He does this by whispering lies about how others may be out to hurt you, then reinforces those lies when others act out the lies they are hearing against you, and the cycle repeats.

Ultimately, no one can receive the truth, because they are taking personal offense and responding emotionally over words and actions that were actually never said nor done.

And again, when people react that way, it actually isn't about me, but about them. I can - and will - continue to try to foster kindness toward others, and I will have to live with the fact that sometimes people will respond with vitriol and anger and insults and lies back at me because satan has told them lies about "people like me" and they have chosen to live within those lies ... just as their father has taught them.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your clarifying word today, completing the thoughts you put in my mind last night. As Brian said to me, this is not coincidence, and I know it. You are my father. May I learn only from you. Amen.