If you read the earlier posts here about John 8, you will have noticed that I mentioned that the Pharisees were marginalizing Jesus by calling Him a Samaritan and demon possessed. I didn’t fully explain the term in those posts, because the term is a contemporary political term and I didn’t want to introduce our politics to the text, but there is a connection.

Since we in the US are well into an election cycle, I thought maybe I should say something about the tactic. First, it is obviously “as old as the Scriptures” as President Kennedy once said. Second, it is very common, and third, most voters are influenced by it.

Marginalizing is a political tactic that is commonly used by politicians who desire to avoid the actual issue being discussed, while at the same time damaging their opponent’s reputation and credibility. Incidentally, your kids use it as well to shift the focus onto someone else. Here’s how it works:

Here I am, a candidate for Congress, and I think we should raise taxes. My opponent keeps saying that taxes are too high already and that we should lower taxes. I know that everybody wants to pay less in taxes, so I need to shift the attention of the voters in a hurry, so I say that cutting taxes hurts women, minorities and the poor, and that my opponent is a racist, sexist, homophobe who is dangerous, mean-spirited and out of the mainstream. Reporters, knowing that talk of tax rates doesn’t hold an audience report the accusation I’ve made, because everyone loves a scandal. Nobody is going to question my twisted logic; that’s boring. Everyone wants to know more about the evil my opponent is cooking up, and my allegation is repeated over and over in the news, and in a very short time, the voters have the impression that my opponent is a really bad guy; they no longer listen to anything he has to say, for he has been “marginalized” and I win the election on a lie.

In this election year, this sort of thing is going on all across the Nation; both sides use the tactic, and the voters fall for it almost every time.

Children are doing the very same thing when Johnny tells the teacher that you tripped Sally in the hall, and you say Johnny told you to; that nasty Johnny has to show that he wasn’t the instigator, and nobody will listen to him after that… you hope.

The Pharisees throughout John’s Gospel attempt to marginalize Jesus frequently; chapter 8 is only the beginning. Watch out, they also use the tactic of “Denial and Counter-charge” and we’ll cover that one another time. Suffice it to say that if they can get the rumor started that Jesus is a Samaritan, or that He is demon possessed, nobody will ever listen to Him again!