If God were your Father, you would not be trying to kill me. Can we claim that we are sons and daughters of God and still engage in acts that are ungodly? This seems to be what is baffling Jesus. He finds as humorous the claim by the Jews that they are God’s children while at the same time they are busy plotting on how to get rid of him. He challenges them to explain to him how two contradictions (plotting to kill another person while claiming to love God) can peacefully co-exist. But the Jews also found Jesus’ accusation humorous. They have always been God’s sons and daughters. They have always enjoyed the pleasures and privileges of this special relationship. It is not as if they are re-inventing anything. And God has always approved of their way of life (religious). Why was Jesus seeing a problem where there wasn’t any? And they stood their ground.
What was going on with the Jews was not unique to them. They were exhibiting the symptoms of the disease that is ailing the human race. We members of the human race have created God. Because the Lord God would not bend to our commands, we have ended up creating our own God, one that we can manipulate. We have created a God who has no problem with killing, hating, lying, unnecessary competitions and jealousy, and wishing others evil. By asking the Jews to look deeply in their claim of sonship, Jesus was simply inviting them to prove by actions what they believed. If they truly believed that God was their Father, then they had to start behaving as such. God is love, merciful, kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Anyone who claims to be God’s son or daughter must also exhibit the very qualities that God has.