Friday October 14, John 8.51-59

John 8.51-59

⁵¹Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”⁵²The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?”⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’⁵⁵though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word.⁵⁶Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.”⁵⁷Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Thoughts:  Before Abraham was, I am.   Here is a bold statement by Jesus in the midst of a heated argument.  I am, Ego Eime in the Biblical Greek is the proper name for God (Yahweh in the Hebrew).  A name that no devout Jewish person would say.  Here Jesus not only says the name of God, but implication suggests that HE IS, the I AM!   Here we see the real difficulty of what Christians call the incarnation, the enfleshing of God.  How can the people believe this?  Jesus is not yet 50 years old and he is talking about Abraham?   But then of course Jesus utters what many still find unreasonable about Christianity--that Jesus is God!  

Questions:  Have you ever been so mad at someone for their blasphemy that you could have thrown stones at them?  Why is it that our religious believes can stir us to such anger when they are but to question?