Jesus Shoots Pool with the Pharisees

Mike Hosey, An Elder

To be “behind the 8 ball” is an English idiom that means to be in a difficult, weak, or losing situation. The saying comes from the game of pool. In billiards, when the ball you need to sink or hit cannot be touched without the risk of also hitting the 8 ball, you are in a very difficult situation. This is because if you hit the 8 ball  you can be penalized, and in some versions you forfeit the game to your opponent. On the other hand, if you sink the 8 ball as your final shot, and it goes into the pocket that you call, then you win the game.

Jesus put his detractors behind the 8 ball, ironically, in the 8^th chapter of John (John 8:48-59)! It was there that his opposition (the religious leaders of the day)claimed he had a demon. Of course, he denied that, and

then made a curious statement. He told them that Abraham had longed to see his day, and that Abraham had, in fact, seen it. This befuddled them. “What?!” they cried, “you're not even 50 and Abraham is long dead, how could you have seen him?!” He told them, “Before Abraham was, I am.” In this statement, he made a powerful claim! He claimed he was eternal. He didn't say that “he was.” He didn't say “that he will be.” In essence, he said, “I was, I am now, and I am to come,” (Revelation 1:8). But he did something even more powerful. He claimed to be God! In referring to himself as, “I am,” he was using a name that God the father had frequently used for himself (Exodus 3:14). This kind of claim called for the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16), and the religious leaders, without considering any evidence, sought to carry it out on the spot (John 8:59).

So Jesus put everyone who is unwilling to exercise faith in a difficult spot. To sum up a number of great defenders of the faith from the past, Jesus left us only three possibilities as to who he was (or is): 1) He was either a liar, or 2) a delusional, mentally ill man who had duped and garnered some followers, or 3) he was who he said he was – God in the form of a man.