Accept

John 8: 43

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word.              

Why do we not understand who God created us to be? John 8 addresses some of the great errors of understanding in life. Here, in this passage Jesus is asking us if we would rather accept the great untruths about God and Himself and the misinformation of the powerful and dominant views of Jesus. Will we accept our place in their misinformation story or will we know and understand who God created us to be as individuals and as a community?  Read John chapter 8. Will we continue with the oppression of women (1-11) through portraying women as being the cause of masculine failure?  If women refuse their part in the male dominated story of life will they become objects of stoning? This part of the story may not be from the time of Jesus but it does show how early disciples understood the emancipation that Jesus brings to the lives of women; but do we? Jesus brings the ‘light of truth’ to the story of human relationships (12-20). The darkness of prejudice and exploitation is banished in the light of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus liberation narrative is empowered through self-sacrifice not self-promotion and self-interest (21-30). The true disciples of Jesus are those who accept the word of Jesus (31-38). We can point out how our position of dominance is part of some sort of historical natural order all we like (39-50) but Jesus points out this is misconstruing the story of who God created us to be. In the unfolding of the story in chapter 8 the acceptance and promotion of prejudice is clearly labelled as evil; it’s the weapon of lies and comes from the forces that rage against God and His creation (44). The opponents of Jesus go on to mobilise their narratives of racism and religious heresy to attack the inclusive and liberating message of Jesus. The murder of women or men is not beyond sexism; it is sexism.  Jesus knows that His murder is not beyond them; they plan it and follow it through.  John is clearly stating that for the disciple, sexism, racism, homophobia and religious prejudice are examples of the much larger list of oppressive acts that make up the sin of murder.  The only way to avoid tasting the death of religious bigotry and its first cousins of racism, homophobia and sexism is to hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice today (31).