Because I Said So

Scripture Text: John 8:39-59

Growing up many of us heard the words, "Because I said so." When the words were shared our most common response was that we never wanted to say that to our children when we got older. That was the plan until we had children. The fateful day came when a child asked why they needed to do something and the response came out of our mouths, because I said so.

The religious leaders of Jesus day did a lot of teaching with the, because I said so, attached to it. The people would come looking for a greater explanation and all they would get was a response by the teacher that equated to because I said so. When Jesus comes on the scene everyone expects him to give the same answer but he does not. When pushed to explain himself all he responds with is "I am sent me."

For his day invoking the name of I am would have ended most of the debate, in fact is causes the religious leaders to want to stone Jesus. Rather than saying because I said so, Jesus says because God says so. This was too much for the people gathered, it would call into question the authority by which they had been teaching their, because I said so platform.

It is not limited to the children in our lives that we say because I said so. In almost any relationship that phrase comes out of our mouths, or is at least thought. When our spouse requests that we explain something, the temptation is there to say because I said so. Often we want to use the phrase when we want things our way but we are not sure why or have no grand reason other than we want our way.

As you might guess, I said so is very damaging to a marriage. If our spouse is suppose to follow our directives simply because I said so, then we have exchanged a spouse for a subordinate. Not to mention there is a good chance we have left God out of the equation. If we were to begin to use the reasoning Jesus used, "I am said so" then we had better be sure we are listening to God more than ourselves.

Jesus could use the reason, because "I am" said so because he was spending the time listening to God. If we are going to move from "I said so" to "I am said so" we will need to spend the same amount of time listening. In this we find the difference in directing our spouse and leading our spouse. Responding to the leading of God and sharing that with our spouse is a better way to navigate in a marriage, because, God said so.