Accidental Confession

“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.” (Joh 8:41 AV)

The words of the people are interesting.  They testify that they are the children of God through Abraham and Jacob and are not as other nations are.  Their words are also spiritual or metaphysical.  They are testifying that spiritually speaking, they are the children of the one true God and not the spiritual children of false gods.  However, this would be a lie.  From the time of Solomon until Christ’s incarnation, Israel made a habit of going after false gods.  It is this sin of idolatry that eventually led to Israel’s diaspora.  Because they gave themselves over to idol worship, God brought Babylon and Assyria against them.  These two kingdoms invaded Israel and Jerusalem.  The people of God were scattered throughout Asia and Europe as a result.  Finding themselves among the heathen, they lived more like the world than they did God’s people.  Those speaking above assumed that because they were of the returning Hebrews who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and the temple, they were by default, spiritual children of God.  Yet they rejected their Messiah.  Old habits die hard.  What is interesting is that the very defense they made to Jesus was the very thing they were guilty of!

There is a phrase that we use that has lost its original meaning.  Shakespeare, in his play Hamlet, writes a line for a character that reads, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”  The line is not meant as we use it today.  The lady of whom it is stated is a widow who laments her husband, yet is interested in new love.  The word protest did not mean how we use it today.  The word is not meant to be critical.  Rather, it means the opposite.  Shakespeare uses the word to mean desire.  The modern use of the phrase has changed.  We would say, “Me things thou dost protest too much”.  The phrase as used today means the one speaking is confessing to a fault or distaste by clandestinely stating the opposite.  Usually, there is an investigation regarding fault to an event, and the guilty party goes out of his or her way to offer any and all reasons for assuming his or her guilt.  The act of protesting too much is, in itself, a confession of guilt.  This is exactly what the people above are doing.  By professing themselves children of God and not of fornication, they are in essence confessing to the latter.

Our hearts reveal what is truly inside even if we try to hide it.  Eventually, it comes out.  We try to appear different from what we are.  The key is to change what and who we are so that we do not have to be concerned with what comes out.  Those above tried to be people who they were not.  Rather, they should have admitted to the fault of idol worship, confessed and forsaken it, and received their Messiah as they were promised.  To say they were not spiritual children of fornication meant that was exactly what they were.  But let us give them a bit of grace.  We are all a bit like this.  We don’t want others to know the real us.  That is okay to a point.  But when it comes to God, this is futile.  God knows everything.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  It is best to be honest with what we are inside so that what we are can be changed.  We protest too much.  Silence and honesty are the best policies.