Sometimes Jesus Spoke Directly, Even if It Made People Mad RRE 15
Religion Ruins Everything Daily 9.25.16
[48] The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” [49] Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. [50] Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. [51] Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” [52] The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ [53] Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” [54] Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ [55] But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. [56] Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” [57] So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” [58] Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” [59] So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
John 8:48–59 ESV
Sometimes Jesus is pretty hard on people, depending on where they are coming from. If they are sinful but open to learning from Him, He is really soft. If they are self-righteous and hard, He delivers His message pretty hard. Jesus took time to get to know people enough to know how directly He had to talk to them.
At the end of John 8, Jesus says “Before Abraham was, I am.” The leaders wanted to kill Jesus just for saying that because “I am” is what God said to Moses from the burning bush when Moses asked, “Who are you? Who sent me?” By deliberately saying that, Jesus was telling the religious leaders that He Himself was the almighty God they were trying to serve.
Jesus knew these guys knew the scriptures. He also knew that they had witnessed miracles and heard His teachings but were now just reduced to calling Him names. I don’t think Jesus intended to make them mad deliberately, but cutting directly to the raw truth was going to give them a defining moment to either believe or reject Jesus.