Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” John 8:42-45 NASB

In John Chapter 8, the debate between Jesus and the Pharisees is reaching a crescendo. Jesus is responding to the Jewish leaders question, ‘just who do you think you are?’ And He answers them forcefully, directly, and without watering it down to keep the peace or avoid offence. “You cannot hear what I am saying because you are sons of the devil, a known liar.” In verse 58 Jesus commits the ultimate blasphemy, claiming to be God; “I Am.”

Why would Jesus, the most loving, kind, and gentle man man who ever lived, throw fuel on the fire of conflict? Because it is a mercy of God to shatter false religious security. Love does not let people cling to false assurance. Selah