The Choice (John 8:48-59)

John: Who is this Man?

We have reached the conclusion of the remarkable words of Jesus in his dialogue with the Jewish leaders in the temple courts in Jerusalem at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. This marvelous eighth chapter of John is described by Dr. William Barclay as "a chapter which passes from lightning flash to lightning flash of astonishment." Have you ever been out in an electrical storm when the lightning was just overhead, every flash illuminating the whole sky? Here Jesus is making various claims about himself, and each is one lightning flash after another, increasing in intensity. To these angry Jewish leaders he makes claim after claim, each one more astonishing than the last, each one forcing them to either fall down and worship him or stoop down and pick up stones to stone him!