Cue the song; Father Abraham has many sons, many sons has Father Abraham, I am one
of them and so are you, so let us praise the Lord.
This
song if available at that time would have been the top song on the playlist of
the Scribes and the Pharisees. They wore their identity as sons of Abraham on
their sleeves. This song they sang was probably a sweet melody for many except
one, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In
this particular instance, Jesus had an encounter with the Pharisees (John 8).
During the course of the conversation, the Pharisees insisted that they are
children of Abraham despite not wanting to believe the testimony of Jesus. So
they wanted to plaster an identity on themselves but not embrace the actual
actions / attributes that the claim portends.
Jesus
responding to them, said that being a son of Abraham is not just the most
hearted song on your Playlist, or a chant to throw around. Jesus was saying to
the Pharisees, if you are a son of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. This
encounter is more instructive because of the calibre of people Jesus was
speaking to, they were the Scribes and the Pharisees, the custodians of
the law. They could reel out the Torah and cross reference scriptures, but
Jesus' testimony about them evidenced their inability to deconstruct that same
law into a lifestyle of faith.
The
question one then asks is what are the works of Abraham and how did Jesus
arrive at that conclusion. Jesus based his conclusions on the quality of their
belief and the extent of the place the Word of God has in their hearts. These
two things are in effect very crucial underpins of a profession of faith and
the conversion of such professions into a life of faith.

Ver todos los episodios