In today's Gospel, John 8: 21-30, Jesus says to us: "...[I]f you do not believe that I AM you will die in your sins....When you lift up the Son of Man, they you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him."
Recall Moses' question to the Lord when sent to lead the people out of the land of slavery to the Promised Land. "Who do I say sent me, Moses asked God. What is your name?" And God replied: "Tell them "I AM sent you." The New Moses is Jesus, who leads us out of the slavery of sin and opens the door to eternal life!
If I do not believe in Jesus, if I do not come to realize and believe that Jesus is the I AM, that is, God in the living flesh, I am left in my sin of disbelief.
Think of the following facts about what the Chosen People who lived in Jesus' time witnessed about Jesus: the dead were raised to life, the sick were healed, the blind enabled to see and the deaf to hear, demons were cast out of persons, fierce storms were quieted, 1000s and 1000s of people fed with five loaves and two fishes, women were spoken to and included in His ministry just like men were (the apostle to the apostles was a woman and it was a woman who was the first to proclaim Jesus' resurrection from the dead in a culture where women had no voice or no place in public life); sinners were forgiven and shown mercy (recall Jesus' mercy toward the woman caught in adultery--the Jews of Jesus' time claimed that they had a right to stone her to death); children were received with open arms in a culture where, like women, were not counted.
What happened? The leaders of the people had had enough and were determined to put Jesus to death and so they did! He was turned over to the Romans who occupied Israel at the time and was cruelly crucified as a criminal! And one Roman soldier who looked upon the crucified Jesus said, in effect: "Truly, He was the Son of God!" And one of the thieves crucified with him turned to him as both were dying on the cross and said: "Remember me in your Kingdom, Lord," recognizing that Jesus was truly the Son of God, the I AM, whose Kingdom was not of this world. The other thief made fun of Jesus upon the cross: "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us, meaning release us from these crosses, take us off theses crosses and let us walk away free,. You are the Son of God, aren't you?"
Do you/do I believe that Jesus is the I AM?
No comments:
Post a Comment