As we look at this text, there is one thing that is very clear--Jesus loves these people.

I can imagine some of you saying, "What? Are you crazy? That doesn't look like love. They're attacking Him and He is defending Himself. Actually, it looks like He's attacking them. And it really does. To top it off, this reading picks up right after He has told them their father is the devil. That hardly sounds loving.

But let me ask you: Do you think these things were easy for Him to say? Do you think He enjoys confronting people with such harsh words? We know He is love. We know He loves perfectly. Therefore, we know it can only be love that drives Him to ask these hard questions. It is love that drives Him to confront these people. If He didn't care about them, He would let them go. But He won't let them go.

If it were you or I, we might press to make our point. Our pride would drive us to prove we were right, but not Jesus. He does this for their sake.

How easy do you find it to speak harshly to or hurt someone you love intensely? How easy it is to let your children fail or to deny them something? When you are angry, it's a little too easy to tell your spouse she's wrong, but when you see a mistake you know is going to hurt, how much pleasure do you get out of her telling her? Unless I'm different from everyone else, I don't get any pleasure from doing things that hurt people I love.

Yet, Jesus hurts them. Why? Why? Because He loves them. He will not let go. He starts by asking the question, "Which one of you convicts me of sin? Which one of you can point to something I have done, and say,'This is sin?' The answer is: none of you, but you still don't believe me."

If it was frustration, if it was anger, if it was a desire to defend Himself, this would be easy to say, but His words, possibly spoken with anger, actually reveal a breaking heart, "Why don't you believe me?" "You don't believe me because you are not of God."

"Not of God." The words must have stuck in His throat. "Not of God." These people for whom He had provided parents, a spouse, children of their own, jobs, for whom He will suffer and die, for whom He will cry out, "Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing," these people are not of God. What a waste! What a shame! They will not hear the words of God and therefore show they are not of God.

As your pastor I get no pleasure out of pointing out sin. I wish I was better at seeing the bigger picture. If I was, I could easily say, "This is wrong," and know it was for your ultimate good. It might hurt you at first, but I would know in the long run, you would benefit from it. I could see pointing out your sin was actually an act of love, but I don't love enough and my vision isn't good enough. Forgive me for not loving as Jesus does, especially evident in this text.

So out of love, Jesus confronts them, but rather than repenting, rather than admitting He is right, they defend themselves even more fiercely. They deny what He says. They lie to themselves and to Him, and then turn to attack, because that is the way that a person who is feeling guilty behaves.

"Not of God." It broke Jesus' heart to say it. But they simply make His point even more certain. They accuse Him, showing they definitely aren't.

Jesus wants them to see their helplessness. He has been wanting them to see their need for Him. He has been wanting to see them cry out, "Lord, have mercy," but they would have none of it.

No, they are completely sufficient on their own. They don't see the need to cry out for mercy. "We're not going to listen to you, because you have a demon. We would never listen to the words of a man who is possessed by a demon. That would be an ungodly thing. You say things that don't make sense to us, so you must be wrong."

It didn't occur to them, or at least they wouldn't let it occur to them that they could be the ones who were wrong. But no, they are religious people. They couldn't be wrong. God would never let them be taken in like that. He would protect them.

They will not bend. They will not even budge. They have their religion. They use it like a shield. They use it like a weapon. They appeal to their Father, Abraham. "Are you greater than our Father, Abraham?" They even appeal to the prophets. "Are you greater than the prophets?"

It is disgusting the way they use their religion. They use it to protect themselves from what Jesus is saying. The use the very religion that points to Jesus to protect themselves from Jesus, and act like they have God's approval doing it. Worse than that. They act like God would be pleased with what they are doing. They compare themselves to the sinless Messiah and see themselves coming out on top. They are above reproach. Their self-righteousness reaches incredible proportions. Their self-righteousness makes us want to puke.

But before we self-righteously take our fingers, and self-righteously stick them down our throats, and self-righteously puke, we better compare ourselves with them. Are their impulses so different from ours? Are their reactions so different? Aren't their hopes and dreams like our own?

The problem was that they thought they were religious. But don't we want to feel religious? If someone were to tell us we are not of God, would we say, "Yes, I realize that is true?" or we would rather be more likely to say, "Who are you to tell me that? What makes you think you can say that?"

We work hard at cultivating a sense of closeness to God. We want to feel close to God. To be told we are not close, to be told we are a long way from Him, is to touch a very sensitive nerve. Wouldn't we react just like they did?

Don't we turn even the best of His gifts into something of our own? Don't we corrupt His mercy and somehow make it seem like something we do or have done?

And since we do, are we any better than they?

Stepping back, we have to admit, this was an especially harsh account. It was hard to hear. That's what we should expect for a Sunday called, "Judica." You can see and hear the word "judge" in it. We got our break last week. Today we hit it hard, really hard, and even concentrated. But there's a bright spot in this account.

They bent down to pick up stones to throw at Him. The agents of his crucifixion are showing themselves. This is taking place in Jerusalem, and so the people who will shout "Crucify Him" are already showing their intentions. We are soon going to see Him dying on the cross.

Yes, that's the bright spot. We will be vindicated when Christ is on the cross. When he is hanging there, we will see this being done for us. This will be done to pay for our self-righteousness. We think we can sin with impunity, without any shame. We act like we can sin and then say, "But I'm forgiven, because I'm a child of God," and we will see it's not that easy. He must pay the price. He will go to the cross as we will see next week.

Right now, though, He is spared. Just like Isaac was spared. The wood is set up for the burnt offering; Isaac is laid out on the altar; the knife is drawn. What is left but for Abraham to plunge it into his son? But the angel of the Lord stays His hand, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him."

Jesus is standing in front of them; the rocks are there, in their self-righteous rage they have already bent down to pick them up, but the time has not yet come. Isaac was spared. Jesus was spared, but only temporarily. The day will come when the rocks will fly. The Lord will not hold back their hand. Those who want to kill him now, will see their day. But not today.

And as Jesus disappears, He looks at them one more time, His heart breaking, because He knows only love for them, just as He knows only love for you and me.

AMEN