John 8:48-50

“ The Jews therefore answered and said to him, Say we not rightly that thou art a Samaritan and art possessed by a demon? 49. Jesus answered: I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. John 8:50. But I seek not my own glory; there is one who seeks it and who judges. ”

Some, as Hengstenberg and Astie, think that by calling Jesus a Samaritan, they wish to charge Him with heresy, as making Himself equal with God. But the term Samaritan can scarcely be regarded as a synonym of blasphemer. The Samaritans passed for national enemies of the Jews; now Jesus seemed to commit an act of hostility against His people by accusing all the Jews of being children of the devil. The madness of insanity, as it seemed to them, could alone give an explanation of such language; and this is what they express by the words: Thou art possessed of a demon, which are, as it were, the counterpart of the charge of Jesus. The meaning of this assault comes to this: Thou art as wicked as thou art foolish.

“ Who when he was reviled,” says St. Peter, “ reviled not again, but committed himself to him who judges righteously ” (1Pe 2:23). These words seem to have been suggested to the apostle by the recollection of the following reply in our John 8:49-50. To the insult, Jesus opposes a simple denial. ᾿Εγώ, I, placed first, is pronounced with the profound feeling of the contrast between the character of His person and the manner in which He is treated. To the false explanation which the Jews give of His preceding discourse, jesus substitutes the true one: “I do not speak of you as I do, under the impulse of hatred; but I speak thus to honor my Father The testimony which I bear against you is a homage which I must pay to the divine holiness. But, instead of bowing the head to the voice of Him who tells you the truth from God, you insult Him Him who glorifies the one whom you claim to be your Father.” The conclusion is this: You cannot be children of God, since you insult me who speak to you only to honor God!

Nevertheless (John 8:50), Jesus declares that the affronts with which they loaded Him were to Him of little importance. It is God who looks to this; He commits to God the care of His glory; for He knows His solicitude for Him. He wishes to be honored only in the measure in which His Father Himself gives Him glory in the hearts of men. The two participles: seeking and judging give a presentiment of the divine acts by which the Father will glorify the Son and will chastise His calumniators: on one side, the sending of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the new Israel; on the other, the fall of Jerusalem and the final judgment. It is thus that “he commits himself to him who judges righteously.” Besides, all do not dishonor Him; there are some who already honor Him by their faith.