What made the people listening to Jesus pick up stones? Obviously, His words about Abraham and about Himself. "I Am" (or, in modern Russian, "I am the One Who Is") meant a reference to...
What made the people listening to Jesus pick up stones? Obviously, His words about Abraham and about Himself. "I Am" (or, in modern Russian, "I am the One Who Is") meant a reference to Himself as the One who bears within Himself the fullness of God. Such a thing was not forgiven: in the eyes of any religious person, it was outright blasphemy. One could be a prophet or even the Messiah, but one could not be God. Whoever declares such a thing is either mad or a pagan, for pagans believed in the "divinity" of certain people, meaning their supernatural qualities or their connection with the world of the gods. This Man does not look mad, so, as can be seen, He must be an apostate who has imagined Himself to be some supernatural being in the pagan sense of the word. In any case, apostasy and blasphemy were evident, and they were punished by death.
It would seem that one might expect something like this from the Messiah; for example, Isaiah of Jerusalem did call the Messiah "father of eternity." But in the Judaism of Gospel times, these words were understood in the context of ideas about the Messiah whom God had conceived from the beginning of time. Naturally, no one considered the Messiah to be God.
And Jesus, as can be seen, wants to bring precisely this truth to His listeners, a truth inseparable from His earthly ministry. Indeed, He came into the world in order to bring the Kingdom into it, and in all its fullness. The Kingdom that from the very beginning He carried entirely within Himself, since, according to His own words, it is "not of this world" - nowhere in the world, except in Him Himself after His birth into the world, could the Kingdom exist. And the fullness of the Kingdom of God and the fullness of God are, in essence, one and the same: the One who contains within Himself the fullness of the Kingdom also contains the fullness of God.
This, apparently, is what Jesus wants to explain to the people listening to Him. And He does this not in order to exalt Himself somehow, but in order to make them understand what the Kingdom is, what it is really like. But to understand this, one must go beyond the frames of one's own religiosity. And they do not want to do this, or cannot do it - and they pick up stones.
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8:48 Say we not well - Have we not just cause to say, Thou art, a Samaritan - An enemy to our Church and nation; and hast a devil? - Art possessed by a proud and lying spirit?
8:49 I honour my Father - I seek his honour only.
8:50 I seek not my own glory - That is, as I am the Messiah, I consult not my own glory. I need not. For my Father consulteth it, and will pass sentence on you accordingly.
8:51 If a man keep my word - So will my Father consult my glory.We keep his doctrine by believing, his promises by hoping, his command by obeying. He shall never see death - That is, death eternal. He shall live for ever. Hereby he proves that he was no Samaritan; for the Samaritans in general were Sadducees.
8:54 If I honour myself - Referring to their words, Whom makest thou thyself?
8:56 He saw it - By faith in types, figures, and promises; as particularly in Melchisedec; in the appearance of Jehovah to him in the plains of Mamre, Gen 18:1; and in the promise that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.Possibly he had likewise a peculiar revelation either of Christ's first or second coming.
8:57 Thou art not yet fifty years old - At the most. Perhaps the gravity of our Lord's countenance, together with his afflictions and labours, might make him appear older than he really was.Hast thou seen Abraham - Which they justly supposed must have been, if Abraham had seen him.
8:58 Before Abraham was I AM - Even from everlasting to everlasting.This is a direct answer to the objection of the Jews, and shows how much greater he was than Abraham.
8:59 Then they took up stones - To stone him as a blasphemer; but Jesus concealed himself - Probably by becoming invisible; and so passed on - With the same ease as if none had been there.