Read: John 8:46-59
Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. (v. 58)
Today people are fascinated by their origins. Who were my ancestors? Where did they come from? We all came from somewhere.
Jesus’s understanding of himself was rooted in his certainty of his own origins. In today’s reading, Jewish leaders have been questioning Jesus about his claims about himself. In this chapter, they ask question after question. Finally, in response to Jesus’s claim about eternal life (v. 51), they asked about the prophets, and even Abraham, who kept the law, and even made covenants with God, but died (v. 52). They asked Jesus, “Are you greater?” (v. 53). Jesus’s answer was shocking: “Before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58). Those listening knew only one who bore that title. When God told Moses to deliver his people out of Egypt, Moses asked whom he should say sent him. God told Moses to tell them, “I am has sent me to you” (Exod. 3:14). As a statement, “I am” is an assertion of self-existence, one that no other being can make. But Jesus makes it. “I am”—before Abraham was.
Jesus described himself as having the same self-existence as Yahweh—full equality with God. Hearing this, the Jewish leaders tried to stone him. They were shocked and horrified! Are we? Can we accept Jesus’s incredible view of himself? Yet only with this understanding can we trust Jesus as our guide to eternal life, for that is the life he has always known.
As you pray, ask Jesus to show you who he is—the great I am. Is that who you thought him to be?
Fred Van Dyke is a conservation biologist dedicated to the care for God’s creation. In this role Fred has served government agencies, private consulting firms, and academic institutions doing research, management, and teaching in conservation science. He is also the author of two books on faith and environmental stewardship.
