John 8:59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Let’s talk about a “cancel culture.” I remember when TV shows got canceled, their ratings didn’t bring in enough profit for the broadcast companies. They simply chose to not make any more seasons of the show. The episodes simply turned into reruns. Remember those?
There have been some cancel cultures in the last hundred years. The Soviet Union and Communist China are two that “canceled” millions of their own citizens, about one hundred million! They simply arrested and murdered them or sent them to labor camps to die a slow, agonizing death by work and starvation. They were canceled because the political elites suppressed all opposing viewpoints. Sound familiar?
And of course Hitler’s Germany canceled millions. North Korea as well. The list of nations that oppressed and killed their citizens keeps growing. Don’t forget about the ethnic cleansing and the tribal wars in the African continent.
Our text tells about the religious leaders’ first attempt to cancel Jesus. Jesus has confronted them about their stubborn refusal to acknowledge that God was working through Him. He has repeatedly given them the opportunity to believe what they are seeing and hearing, but they have refused.
What I find interesting is that Jesus continues to clarify exactly who He is during their discussion. Even as the opposition continues to rise, Jesus doesn’t back down, doesn’t attempt to deflect their furor. Jesus aims right for the their hearts and never moves off target, to use a 2nd Amendment illustration.
Right before they picked up stones in order to kill Him, Jesus made the direct assertion that He is God. That is what the words “I am” point to in the previous verse. And the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant. Unlike modern readers, they knew the linguistic connection Jesus was making. He might have even been speaking Aramaic or Hebrew in this phrase. They understood His claim to Divinity.
The Jews fully understood that what He was claiming was blasphemy according to their definition. And blasphemy had the rightful punishment of stoning, so they pick up stones to kill Jesus.
But the text says that Jesus “hid himself.” Now, how in the world does that happen? They are right there listening to Him say these words and they bend down to pick up stones and Jesus is no where to be found. How exactly did He “slip away” from that area? We simply don’t know.
But as John has written several times in this Gospel, Jesus time had not yet come. There was a timing issue in play here. Jesus was not done His earthly ministry yet. And His death was not to be by stoning but by crucifixion. So, He goes on teach, preaching, healing, and doing good until the day of His death.
Are there people in your life that you are “canceling” right now? Stop it! We are to be building bridges across chasms for the sake of the Gospel, and doing it without compromising the Truth. From our end, there should be no barriers to other people. We should always be breaking down barriers. There should always be an open door for dialogue.
And as we are in dialogue, or not in dialogue with others, our lives should still be preaching the Gospel. Love and mercy should still be extending from our lives. Our obedience and holiness should be drawing people, even if they are on the other side of the chasm.
The Arnold Journey 