It seems like a fair question. After all, Jesus is making some pretty amazing claims about his relationship to God, about his authority and self-authentication. He follows that up by establishing the contrast between him and those who do not believe in him—mainly that by refusing to believe in him they are aligning themselves to Satan, and not with Abraham, whom they consider their spiritual father.
There is one problem with their question, from my perspective. For one it is not a true representation of what Jesus is saying. He just stated that Abraham rejoiced in seeing the day of his arrival. He did not say he saw Abraham, although that would have been true (see Genesis 18). The point they are trying to make is one they believe would gain them points with the people listening in on their ongoing dialogue. How can Jesus claim he saw Abraham if he was not been alive long enough to have seen him? A classic “straw man” argument.
Once again the Jewish rulers are proving true what Jesus is saying. They are seeking to justify themselves through any means possible, rather than admitting there is something extraordinarily special about this mysterious man. No one is exempt from this temptation. I can look back and see moments when truth was unpalatable to my life at the time. As a result I sought to rationalize or justify my choice to proceed in the path I was following although God was making it clear it was not the path for me. It’s human nature. That is why I need my nature transformed into a spiritual nature.
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