Reflection - Father's & Sons

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040517.cfm
Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95
John 8:31-42

Scholars acknowledge the complexity of the initial lines from today's Gospel text as potentially confusing to the reader. Who is Jesus addressing? Is it those who believe or those who do not believe? The difficulty lies primarily in the phrase: "those Jews who believed in him." The initial import of the statement suggests that Jesus is debating the choir. That is not the case. Rather, these are Jews "sitting on the fence" as it were. They waver in their acceptance of Jesus. They have difficulty with some of his teachings. We find this plainly stated in John's sixth chapter. "The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." (John 6:41) and later,  "Many of his disciples, when they heard it, [i.é. The teaching on eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood] said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (John 6:60) What is particularly intriguing about this morning's text from the Gospel of John is the exchange between Jesus and these ambivalent Jews on the subject of fathers and sons.

The passage opens with Jesus encouraging these conflicted listeners to believe in him, declaring that such belief will lead to truth and freedom. The Jews participating in the discussion latch on to the sensitive issue of freedom, insisting that they, who are descendants of Abraham, ". . . have never been enslaved to anyone." The assertion may be questionable, but we need not pursue that. Rather, what is important is that the Jews take off down this side road which Jesus then specifically uses to bring them back to the point. He passes over any potential dispute on whether or not they are really free, being that they are currently under Roman domination, and returns to the subject he is attempting to explain. "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin." So, it is not an issue of political freedom; it is an issue of spiritual freedom. This freedom which Jesus promises, is a consequence of being sons rather than slaves. Sons may always continue to live in the father's house; not so for the slave.

The direction of the discussion shifts once again as Jesus challenges their reliance on lineage which they propose as another distraction. While he concedes that they may well be biological descendants of Abraham, he denies that they are living as the spiritual descendants of Abraham. "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. 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 are doing the works of your father!" 

In this manner the issue of father and sons comes fully to the fore.

Jesus' opponents understood clearly his rejection of the claim that they were spiritual descendants of Abraham, i.e., that Abraham was their spiritual father. Their understanding is evidenced in their retort: "We were not born of fornication. 

We have one Father, God." Finally, they are beginning to recognize the point Jesus is trying to make, though they are in denial of the truth he speaks. Their assertion that they have "one Father, God," is one that Jesus cannot accept. "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me." This final exchange can be summarized in just a few words. The Jews say that they worship the true God, not foreign gods. Jesus replies that, if that were true they would know his son. What's behind that claim is at the core of the father-son relationship.

          One night a father overheard his son's prayer:

               "Dear God, Please make me the kind of man my daddy is."

          Later that night the father prayed:

               "Dear God, please make me into the man my son wants me to be."

The desire of sons to imitate their fathers is a given; and this exchange between Jesus and a group of Jews who are ambivalent about accepting him relies on this ordinary life experience for understanding. We express it in the simple statement: like father, like son.  

          A father said to his son, "Be careful where you walk."

          The son responded "You be careful. Remember that I follow in your footsteps"

The meaning of the common cliche: "Like father, like son." Is poignantly expressed in this simple father-son exchange. And, even though it may be for either good or ill that not all sons follow in their father's footsteps, our life experience supports the truth the statement contains. Jesus claims that imitative relationship as true of his own relationship with God the Father and as evidence for the truth of his words. "I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me." (John 8:28) Likewise, it is this very lack of imitation which Jesus uses to counter the Jews claim to have God as their father. "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham." In other words: true sons would imitate their father. 

In this conversation between Jesus and the Jews we are brought into the depths of the relationship between father's and sons. It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us father's and sons. In some ways, the very lack of a biological relationship can testify to the truth of this position. Every father with adopted children knows it at the core of his being. Furthermore, we actually profess this truth by distinguishing between 'fathers' and 'dads.' Any man can be a father, it takes someone special to be a dad.

          A dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you

               up, brushes you off, and lets you try again.

          A dad is someone who wants to keep you from making mistakes, but instead,

               let's you find your own way, even though his heart breaks in silence when you

               get hurt.

          A dad is someone who holds you when you cry, scolds you when you break the

               rules, shines with pride when you succeed, and has faith in you even when

               you fail.

Not every father can be a dad. 

Those who would truly be their father's sons have their own position, a position which they instinctively seem to understand and actualize. They emulate, they replicate, they will even exaggerate the one they know as father. Jesus explores the significance of this aspect of the Father-son relationship in his give-and-take with the Jews. He exposes their failure to imitate the Father. It is the very fact that they fail to imitate the Father that gives evidence to deny their claim to be the spiritual children of Abraham. Instead, Jesus says, they behave as slaves since they are guilty of sin and "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin."

Paul picked up on this teaching when he wrote to the Romans: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear  . . . but you have received the spirit of sonship" (Romans 8:15) In other words: you do not have the status, I.e., the spirit of a slave. That is not what you have been given. Rather you have received the status of, I.e., the spirit of a son. As Paul continues this letter, he repeatedly calls upon the Christians of Rome to imitate Christ as Christ himself imitates the Father. Through this imitation of the Son we become sons in the Son.

It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us father's and sons---our hearts, the heart of Jesus in whom we live, and the heart of the Father who receives us as sons in his Son.

One final note in this matter.

God is not satisfied with being our Father, our source of life, the one from whom we receive our very being. He is, as it were, not satisfied with being the cause of our origin. He wants to be our dad. He wants to be the one 

          . . . who catches us before we fall but instead picks us

               up, brushes us off, and lets us try again.

          He wants to be the one who keeps us from making mistakes, but instead,

               let's us find your own way, even though his heart breaks in silence when we

               get hurt.

          He wants to be the one who holds us when we cry, scolds us when we break

               the rules, shines with pride when we succeed, and has faith in us even

               when we fail.

He wants us to live as his sons, to be his sons and therefore "He has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"  (Galatians 4:6)

NOTE: I apologize to all those who may be offended by my lack of political correctness. Everything said above applies to His daughters as well; but so-called inclusive language makes for a very awkward reflection.