John 8:31-42

John the Evangelist is famous for his opening words, ‘In the beginning‘. The Jews in today’s Gospel passage claim Abraham for their origin. Abraham’s origins in Ur of the Chaldees is a location in today’s Iraq. This would place him in an environment similar to the cultures that evolved today’s Hindu traditions.

The New Testament draws from the Hebraic world of Matthew into the increasingly Greek culture-oriented contexts of Paul, Luke and John. The Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek a century before Jesus by Egyptian Jews. This Greek Bible is the one St. Paul learned as a student and quotes from.

The Gospel of Luke gives us a view of Jesus (and his cousin John the Baptist) as having the heritage of a Jerusalem priesthood from Mary’s family. Sometime before his birth the family migrated to what was often called ‘Galilee of Gentiles’. The area had a mixed assortment of peoples and religious traditions. The disciple Phillip was particularly identified with the Greek culture of the larger Roman world.

Jesus says in today’s passage, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here.” John the Evangelist proclaimed the ‘Christ Origin’ for generic humanity as basic to God’s mission of love for the whole world. Then, as now, it can very hard for people, even very religious people, to really love God, neighbor and self.

Meditation by the Reverend Luke Back
Rector, Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, IL
Diocese of Chicago