August 12, 2012
Pentecost XI
Fr. Philip Eberhart
The “I AM’s” of Jesus
As I began to read through our gospel passage this morning I was struck by Jesus saying, “I AM.” As you know, these were the words that, in Hebrew, form what is called the Tetragrammaton, or the 4-letter, nearly unpronounceable name of God given to Moses at the encounter with God’s presence at the burning bush. Y – H – W – H from which we get the anglicized version: Yahweh or Jehovah, that we are more familiar with.
Just a bit of history around this word:
As it was revealed to Moses the Name of God was considered to be holy, so holy that, when written in the Old Testament in the original form (YHWH) the scribe, would stop his work, go wash ritually, come back, write the Name, and go wash ritually again, before continuing to write. Something similar to a Dr. preparing for surgery! This was serious business.
Of course these words are normal parts of speech. A personal pronoun, I, and a verb of being, AM.
I AM.
When I began to process this sermon, I did a search in the Gospels for those two words and came up with hundreds of instances of their use, of course. Then it occurred to me that adding the definite article “THE” would separate out the specific instances that I was looking for in the gospels. What I found was very interesting.
The “I AM’s” of Jesus occur exclusively in the Gospel of John. Save one very important one: The Synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke all record Jesus response to the question of the High Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, at his trial:
Mark 14: 61-62; Luke 22:70; and Matthew 26:63-64
All record Jesus answering a direct question by the High Priest:
"I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
In the Gospel of John, John’s concern with placing Jesus in his Spiritual place in the cosmos is evident from the very outset where we read, in John’s prologue:
I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE…
I AM THE BREAD THAT CAME DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN.I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE…
I AM THE LIVING BREAD THAT CAME DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN;
And then the punch line: In vs. 51
And then at the last, He connects the bread with his own sacrifice, and hearkens back to the whole sacrificial system of ancient Israel. Jesus is saying, very clearly to his Jewish hearers that His body, given on the cross and celebrated in remembrance, on this Table, is the BREAD OF LIFE, given by God for the life of the world.
We call the Eucharist a “means of grace.” Indeed! “Anyone who eats of this bread, will live forever!” Hallelujah!!
He repeats this again in Jn 9, then in Jn 10, we are all familiar with the great passage:
I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP… (He elaborates)
I AM THE DOOR; IF ANYONE ENTERS THROUGH ME, HE WILL BESAVED, AND WILL GO IN AND OUT AND FIND PASTURE.
Jesus, takes on the metaphor of the Shepherd, in John 10, just as God has had that role through Israel’s history, the Great Shepherd of Israel. We hearken back to the very familiar Psalm 23:
Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psa 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Jesus taps into an historical reference to God the Father with his Jewish hearers.
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD.From her he immediately turns and makes his words a reality in their hearing that day:
I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE; NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER BUT THROUGH ME.
These words of Jesus are the capstone of the I AM sayings! Jesus sets himself apart here in stark contrast to the world, and to the many ways, the many truths that we run after. There is one source of truth and life from God the Father, and Jesus is the Way. As Paul was later to preach
Just let me say, that if you entertain any of the popular notions of today’s pluralistic, multi-cultural religious elite, that there are “many ways to God” or that there is no one way that is “THE WAY” then this statement of Jesus must act as a STOP sign for us, before turning down that path.
AND I IN HIM, HE BEARS MUCH FRUIT, FOR APART FROM ME YOU
CAN DO NOTHING!!!
And the final I am, from Matt 28:
I AM WITH YOU, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE!
AMEN AND AMEN
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