John 8:48-49

I get it. These Pharisees don’t like what Jesus has been saying to them so now they are all about casting stones – He must be a half-breed and demonically possessed to consider them – the very religious elite - not children of God. The only conclusion they can come up with is that Jesus had to be out of His right mind to even think such a thing as that! Isn’t that the direction we tend to go when confronted with the Truth of our behavior? We immediately jump on the defensive bandwagon and strive to strike a low blow to the one (and in this case, the One) drawing our attention to our flaw. Nobody likes to be in the bad attention limelight. It makes us squirm and feel yucky about ourselves. Yet that was precisely what Jesus was out to accomplish in confronting these self righteous religious leaders albeit all the while motivated by the love He possessed for them. Humans do not seem to look up until they are down low. When we are so full of ourselves we seldom realize our emptiness. He sought to get them to turn from their false righteousness to His True Righteousness and subsequently be saved. He was not trying to be cruel or hateful in presenting them with the Truth of their standing rather kind and loving. The most hateful thing one can do is to leave a person in their ruin – saturated, soaking and sinking in their sin - when they are fully aware of the antidote. In our day and time we tend to “love” people into hell through our false belief that tolerance is markedly better than Truth – shame on us. Jesus certainly did not go down that path. The verse in Proverbs comes to mind:

6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Prov 27:6 (NIV)

In our verses today we find two simple “take aways” that we can readily apply to our own lives: how not to respond when confronted with our poor behavior as these Pharisees did and how to respond when confronted with false and even perhaps slanderous accusations as Jesus did.

Let’s first observe the Pharisees reply to our Lord’s confrontation of Truth to the m. Jesus had previously stated their actions clearly demonstrated that their father was not God rather Satan. These guys viciously went for the jugular. It seems as though they were trying to hurt our Lord with their words as they perhaps were wounded by His - wrong reaction on their part. It is certainly easy to lash out when we are bruised by others. We are often most defensive when there is truth to the words spoken to us – even if presented in exaggerated form. While we are not held accountable for the words someone speaks to us we are held accountable for the words that come out of our mouths. We would do well to remember that our words come as the overflow of what is stored in our hearts. Jesus tells us in Matthew:

34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matt 12:34-37 (NIV)

Amy Carmichael stresses the importance of putting our words through the fine sieve of Philippians 4:8 before speaking – are they true, are they noble, are they right, are they pure, are they lovely, are they admirable, are they excellent or praiseworthy, and she adds – are they necessary? If most of us would do this, the world would certainly be a quieter place! Misuse of words is one of the easiest ways to sin. Like King David our prayer should be the following:

3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalms 141:3 (NIV)

Next, Jesus shows us how to respond correctly – even to the lies of the enemy – and that is by simply and calmly stating the Truth. You will never go wrong in doing the right thing in God’s eyes neither will you go wrong in stating the Truth in love. Proverbs tells us:

27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Prov 17:27 (NIV)

One final thought, I find it very interesting that of the seven things God deems detestable listed in Proverbs, the top two are demonstrated by these self-righteous Pharisees in our verses for today – pride (haughty eyes) and deceit (a lying tongue). Just a heads up from God’s Word for us to beware:

16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. Prov 6:16-19 (NIV)