John 8:48-51 - Honour

8:48,49

The Jews react by insulting Jesus, to call Him a Samaritan was a grave insult in those days. As we saw when we looked at the chapter on the Samaritan woman, the Jews regarded the Samaritans as grossly inferior. As if that wasn’t  enough they then accuse Him of having a demon. There were a number of “prophets” from Samaria and the Jews said that they were demon possessed.

Jesus is completely unfazed by all this, answering calmly that He does not have a demon. He honoured His Father, but the real problem was that they dishonoured Him.

8:50

“I am not seeking glory for myself”. There could be a side swipe at the Jewish leaders here who were seeking glory for themselves. Jesus was not seeking glory for Himself, yet He would receive more glory than anyone ever had. However, there was one who was seeking glory for the Son, and that was the Father. So we see the contrast here. The Jewish leaders sought their own glory, relying on their own methods and so-called power. Jesus was completely obedient to the Father. In the world we are encouraged to seek our own glory, to advance ourselves. It is far better to let God advance us. That does not mean we do not do anything, but that we live our lives in obedience to Him and we rely upon Him. This is actually by far the wisest course, for the Father is the judge, He is the one who decides the final outcome.

8:51

This is another amazing statement of Jesus. He draws attention to Himself and His teaching. We see this throughout John. On the one hand Jesus will say that He is completely dependent upon the Father, and does only what the Father says and does. Then He will insist that He has the words of life and must be listened to. We only have authority when we are under God’s authority. If we want to be a preacher or teachers whose words mean something then we must be people who speak the words of God.

In saying that they would never see death He did not mean we would not die, but that we would be raised from the death.