Too Many Fathers

They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God." (John 8:41)

This morning I see more in this verse than I noticed previously.

Not only were these Jews wanting to disparage Jesus' reputation by bringing up the questionable circumstances of His birth, they were also challenging the very idea of there being more than one manifestation of God.

On the first instance, since it possibly had been extracted from His parents by those who may have demanded an explanation, Jesus' real Father was claimed to be God Himself and not any human man. However, the spin that the religious people and likely others as well was that most likely Mary had had a sexual liaison with someone else or at best with Joseph before the proper time of marriage. If in fact it had been someone besides Joseph, these Jews in this discussion with Jesus were intimating that maybe that other man potentially His father was even one of the despised Samaritans which in their mind could explain why He seemed to different than a normal Jew.

If this was their insinuation, then in reality there were three assertions as to who might be the real father of Jesus. Jesus Himself along with Mary was claiming that God in heaven was His real Father; Joseph may had corroborated that claim but most people had serious reasons to doubt those claims for it simply seemed to bizarre to accept. At the same time Joseph clearly had raised Jesus from birth until he himself disappeared from the story, possibly dying sometime during Jesus' youth leaving Jesus, Mary and His siblings to care for themselves.

So from these Jew's perspective, there were three potential answers to the question of who was the real father of Jesus, and His claim along with His parents that only God was His real Father was the least likely right answer as far as they were concerned. Besides, Jesus had such conflicting notions about God in contrast to all their established beliefs about what God was like that the only explanation they could offer for this dichotomy was that Jesus must be demoniacally affected. And according to them this could have been the consequence of having been conceived in an illicit relationship by His mother with someone from the race of people that the Jews hated the most and held the greatest prejudice against, those awful Samaritans.

In addition to this constant doubt about Jesus' biological ancestry, the very idea implied in Jesus' claims that God was His real Father challenged the very core of their belief in monotheism. The Jews had for centuries distinguished themselves from other religions of the world by their unique belief that there was only one true God, and that to insinuate that there might be more than one entity claiming to be God would be obvious heresy and would in fact endorse polytheism, something God had already condemned in the Scriptures.

If Jesus' claim to be the Son of God would actually have been considered, it would still seem impossible for them to reconcile that with their staunch belief in only one God. Many today struggle with the very same issue and this is the sticking point that blocks the Muslim world from taking the claims of Christianity seriously. To their minds it is simply nonsense and illogical to try to claim that someone could be God at the same time as Allah, the one and only true God. This crazy notion simply cannot be reconciled in the mind of many. So they assume that to believe that Jesus is the Son of God or to accept any idea of a trinity is to deny the core belief of monotheism or worshiping only one God.

Many Christians also find this very hard to swallow as well. There is quite a number of Christians that refuse to embrace the idea of a trinity God based on similar logic that Muslims use. In many minds it simply cannot be reconciled that there could be three entities claiming to be God and still believe that there is only one God. To them this is simply mental dishonesty, and to try to avoid this glaring fact from their perspective is to not be willing to be authentic or respect intellectual integrity. The only conclusion they can arrive at after considering it from every human angle they can think of is that the idea of a trinity God simply is a fabrication of religious people seeking to gain influence over others for ulterior reasons. In some minds this notion can only be a heresy that entered the church in later centuries and was inserted into Scriptures to prop up this strange invented doctrine.

In order to take Jesus' claims about Himself seriously, not only do Jews, Muslims and many Christians have to grapple with seemingly difficult claims implicating a divine pluralism that seems to conflict with logic, but they find themselves polarized away from their traditional thinking if they follow Jesus' teachings to their logical conclusion. As with the Jews Jesus was speaking to in this chapter, His teachings and claims if taken literally will always disturb and upset our assumptions and traditions because they are so out of tune with this world. All of us have been affected by watering down Jesus claims and teachings because deep inside we are afraid of the implications we know instinctively will be linked if we take Jesus seriously.

If I really enter into the level of belief that Jesus insists is needed to enter into eternal life, I will be forced to surrender much of what I have been taught in religion and even most if not all of what my own natural instincts may tell me is true. Yes, I am created in the image of God and much of that original mental wiring may still be in place. But my fallen condition of sin has predisposed me to view reality from a perspective that is evidently incompatible with the reality described by Jesus and lived out in His life here on this planet. If I choose to actually become a real disciple of Jesus instead of just a religious person conforming to some church's dogma or list of beliefs, the implications are very likely to be just as troubling for my logic and threatening to my status quo as was felt by these religious people long ago.

But in reality that is actually the very doorstep of heaven. Entering into life always requires the surrender of the natural inherent ways of thinking we grow up embracing. Like Nicodemus, that man who thought he understood religion with the best of them, I continue to be challenged that I need a much deeper level of perception, of heart transformation, of letting go of preconceived ideas and beliefs to make room for a new, fresh wind to carry me to places I never dreamed possible before. And if I am willing to let go of my secure grip on the status quo and allow this new wind of the Spirit to lift me up and carry me along, I can enter a whole new dimension of living and thriving and joy that I never knew was possible for me to experience. This is what I long for, what I crave and what I am beginning to taste occasionally. And with each new encounter it whets my appetite for much more.