Who is your daddy?

John 8:37-46

Who is your daddy? It is famous for such call – and - response verses as "What's your name? (What's your name?) /Who's your daddy? (Who's your daddy?) / (He’s rich?) Is he rich like me?"  These lyrics are from "Time of the Season" a song by The Zombies, and featured on their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle. Who's your daddy? Is a slang expression used in the song to ask a rhetorical question? A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply.  ^(Note: the information is from Wikipedia.)   It might surprise you to read that over 2000 years ago Jesus Christ ask this question to a group of Jews who were following Him.

It all began in this way, Jesus tells the crowd the following; “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:31-32)  Now we understand that Jesus was referring to Himself as being the source of all truth, but the crowd did not grasp what He had stated.  This group of Jews could follow their roots back to Abraham and their claim was that they had never been enslaved to anyone.  It’s very clear they were offended by what Jesus was saying, so He raised the level of His discourse with this statement: “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.  I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”  (Verses, 37-38)

“They answer him, “Abraham is our father.”  Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.  You are doing what your father did.” (Verses, 39-41)  What a comparison to the church of 2012, where many in the pews claim to be followers of Jesus, but show little or no effects of abiding in His word.  These Jewish people did not know the Father; and they went on to claim we have one Father – even God.  But much like many members of today’s church they do not pass the test in John 8:31,32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  

Jesus may not have asked the question, “who's your daddy”?  But it is very clear that He is about to tell them who their daddy is, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.  I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.  Why do you not understand what I say?  It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice - http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/