If you are attentive to the gospel readings so far this week it is clear that there is controversy in the air. The gospels are from John 8 and follow immediately upon the scene of the “woman caught in adultery.” It is important to note that John 7 is filled with back-and-forth arguments between Jesus and the religious leaders about Jesus’ identity. In John 7 Jesus uses terms like “the one sent” and behind closed doors the religious leaders wonder if Jesus is portraying himself as the Messiah or the great-Prophet-to-come as promised by Moses.  Ranging behind all this is the question of what is Jesus’ relationship to the Father? Is it something so completely different, so unique, that God is his Father in a way that God is Father to no other human being? This controversy ranges through the whole of the chapter; the issue refuses to stay down or go away.