It's a most fascinating Bible verse.
You never hear it talked about in Church.
People are saying they know who Jesus is!
They're friends with his Dad and Mom ... known him his whole life!
They watched him grow up!
How in God's name can Jesus claim to not belong to Joseph and Mary?
And how in God's name can he claim to be God's son?
The unspoken sentiment behind the question is, "this boy's out of his mind!"
It's in the Gospel of John, the last one written, long after Jesus had lived, died, came back to life somehow and ascended to Heaven in front of witnesses.
Most of the witnesses have died by the time John was written.
Unlike the other Gospels, which come across as eye witness accounts of the life Jesus lived, John is all about the son of God.
Matthew, Mark and Luke are about the things Jesus did.
John is all about who Jesus was.
Whoever wrote John ... it wasn't an Apostle ... believes in Jesus though they've never met.
"In the beginning was the word," John starts, "and the word was with God and the word was God" (1:1) ... and the word is Jesus.
Jesus is the word ... of God.
It helps to understand a bit of Hebrew.
"D'bar" ... Hebrew for word ... has life ... once spoken it can never be taken back or killed ... words live forever once your mouth births them ... it's a principal reason we forget so little ... remember so much!
As living things, words are actions ... deeds ... lives.
So if in the beginning was the word ... and that word was Jesus ... and Jesus was with God ... and Jesus was God ... then it has a life of it's own.
The Gospel of John is classic Greek storytelling ... meaning it couldn't have been the Disciple who wrote the Gospel or it would have been in Hebrew or Aramaic ... but it's really good Greek ... with an introduction of the biography.
Though it's funny too the concepts are Hebraic ... whoever wrote John wasn't writing to the Jews but is introducing Jesus to a bigger world.
"This is the story of Jesus," is how it'd be put today, "the word of God in action."
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus is human ... he gets mad ... has a soft spot for children and loose women ... hates seeing sick people so he healed them ... even raises the dead because he's not ready for them to go yet ... and takes naps in boats.
But in John, "there's nothing Jesus doesn't know, nothing he can't do, and when they take him in the end, you feel he could blow them right off the map if he felt like it. Majestic, mystical, aloof, the Jesus of the fourth Gospel walks three feet off the ground, you fell, and you can't help wishing that once in a while he'd come down to earth" (Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures).
John believes in a Jesus he's never seen ... didn't meet ... hadn't heard ... but knows with everything inside that it's the Son-of-God ... word become flesh ... he's talking about.
Which what makes this particular verse ... this part of the story ... so awkward and funny.
"We know who you are!" they accuse.
"We know your shit head parents!"
"Your Dad's an out of work carpenter who died young."
"Your Mom was a hot teenager who was forever pregnant ... and you were the first kid ... but she was always knocked up ... your parents obviously liked to do it.
"And now here you are ... claiming they're not your parents ... but you come directly from God."
It's funny if you put this in the context whoever wrote John wrote it.
Jesus stuns the world feeding 5,000 with fish and bread ... his Disciples can't take the crowds and leave him behind when they take a boat to get away ... later Jesus walks up ... on water ... asking, "Where'd y'all go?" and climbs inside.
The next day the 5,000 or so realize Jesus is on Little Tybee so they boat, paddle board, surf and float over ... and when they arrive they ask, "How'd you get over here?"
"Jet Ski?"
And Jesus gives a lecture ... "I've fed you once! You want more?" ... and he talks about how he's the Bread that comes down from Heaven" ... and whoever wrote John does a funky version of "The Last Supper" ... he'd obviously heard about it and does a re-imagining ... the "you can do it even if you weren't there" version ... the beginning of "Do this in remembrance of me."
This is when the crowd ... the same crowd that ate the first ever fish sandwich for $1 from McDonald's ... with fries! ... ask, "Wait a minute! You're no better than us! We know your folks! They weren't shit! How can you say you're God's boy and not theirs?"
And that's the Gospel of John in a nutshell.
Do you believe you're more than you are?
Are there bigger things in the Universe than you?
Have you seen things you can't explain?
Do you wonder why?
How can a carpenter knock up a teenager and have a son of God?
A daughter of God?
God knows I don't know.
Just like whoever wrote the Gospel of John didn't know.
But somehow God knows.
Whoever wrote the Gospel of John believed that with everything inside.
And we're gathered here today because we want to believe it with everything inside of us too.
