March 28, 2010
John 8:48-59
I AM!!
Has anyone said anything that is so outlandish, so unbelievable that, well . . . you just could not believe it? Right now I’m not sure what to believe. Just about everything I hear seems outrageous. Frankly, I don’t know who to believe, but that’s a whole different conversation.
In all honesty, something outrageous would be someone believing the Chicago Bears will sin the Super Bowl! Or it’s receiving one of those emails or faxes telling me someone needs a few thousand dollars and they’ll send me millions! Yeah, found that harder to believe than Bill Gates sending you free money.
We hear some pretty amazing things, check on the Internet or carefully choose which news program you’re going to watch.
Well, on our first day back in church . . . we’re going to conclude our series of I AM statements from Jesus. I saved the best, most outrageous and outlandish I AM statement that Jesus made.
Throughout John 8, Jesus has been explaining “He is the Light of the World and that He’s the Messiah.” The Jews continue to argue with Him. And, frankly, Jesus is not one you want to get into an argument with. He’ll always win and in the process lead you to discover new truths about yourself, truths you probably won’t like.
Understand that Jesus was a radical! He was so extreme to the Jewish leaders. Yet, He was a breath of fresh air to the downtrodden, to those who were considered less than. He came for the sick and the hurting. . . to bring wholeness and healing.
He challenged the conventional wisdom of the day and challenged the narrow minded thinking. He called for a change in the way people live their lives. Think about what He calls us to do –
Bless those who curse you,
forgive those who persecute you,
love your enemies,
walk the extra mile,
give your coat to those who ask,
to gain your life, you must lose your life, and
the wealthy would have a more difficult time entering heaven
These were words the Jews didn’t want to hear. Actually, those are words most of us don’t want to hear. We really struggle with them. I mean if we were to be really, really honest today. Let me ask you - - - how many of you really want
To bless those who curse you?
love our enemies?
Forgive those who hurt us? Christ says . . . we must.
How many of us are willing to give our lives to Christ, fully and completely?
So, the Jews and Jesus are going back and forth. They’re trying to tell Jesus how wrong He is. As the argument goes on, we come to a point where Jesus is going to reveal more of Himself than the Jews could take. Listen to the conversation from John 8:48-58 - -
48 The Jews answered Jesus, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge.
51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that you have a demon!
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
55 But you have not known Him. I know Him. If I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and I keep His word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
This passage started with the Jewish leaders claiming Jesus was a Samaritan and was demon-possessed. Think about it, He went from respected teacher to a demon possessed man who was a Samaritan. Why would they say this? Because they ran out of arguments against Him, and were now digging into the irrational. They said anything they could think of to hurt Him and incite others against Him.
You know how it is when you get into an argument and you run out of statements. Think about what kids look like when they argue and come up with all kinds of crazy statements. In our desire to attack we say things that make absolutely no sense, we come up with trumped up charges, hoping to throw someone off guard.
That sounds like a lot of the arguing we hear today. People yelling and screaming, but so many not willing to listen and make sense of what’s going on in our country.
The Samaritans were the northern Jews who were considered to be lower class Jews. They added other beliefs into Judaism and were viewed as less than by the Jews in Jerusalem.
The Jews countered Jesus’ remarks, questioning whether He’s greater than Abraham. Abraham had died some 2,000 years before Jesus came to this earth. This was a no-brainer to the Jewish leaders. Abraham was the Father of the Jews. There was nobody, absolutely nobody greater than Abraham.
After Abraham - maybe would come Moses and David and other prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Jesus would have been well down on that list.
Jesus was only a teacher, maybe a rabbi. That was it, He was certainly not the Messiah. For the Jewish people, the Messiah would be a revolutionary. He would be a military leader and priest all in one. He would lead the Jews to defeat their enemies and would lead the nation to be the strongest and greatest nation in the world. But, Jesus was merely a man.
Jesus then makes a couple of statements that must have made the Jews laugh and scream at the same time. He said -
51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
In other words, whoever believes in Jesus and obeys His commands, will pass from this life to the next life, as they joyfully enter heaven. How did the Jews feel about that statement!
52 The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that you have a demon!
You see, the didn’t get who the Messiah was! That was the central point! They didn’t get it. They were so stuck in their made up view of what the Messiah needed to look like, that when He was standing right before them, they missed Him.
Jesus then said in John 8:56, 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; HE SAW IT AND WAS GLAD.
How could Abraham rejoice at the thought of seeing Jesus’ day? In fact, how could Abraham have seen Jesus’ day? It was impossible. Another outlandish statement.
So, we need to look back into the Old Testament which the Jews would be hugely familiar with. In Genesis 12 and again in Genesis 15, God told Abraham that through him, all nations would be blessed. Because of Abraham’s faith in God he was able to see the blessings of what was to come through Jesus. So, the Jews counter by saying you are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham!
So, Jesus comes up with one of the most amazing statements in the Bible. He proclaims, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM!
With this the Jews were ready to kill Jesus. This was a whopper of a statement!!
The literal translation is ‘Truly, truly, before Abraham existed, I existed.’ Do you hear the outlandishness in that statement? Before Abraham ever even existed, I already existed!
Another way to say it would be ‘Before Abraham became, I was already there.’ This is obviously a physical impossibility. And this is where the claim to be God comes in. Jesus simply said “I AM!” Do you recall any other situation in the Bible where those 2 words were used together?
Moses asked God what shall I tell the people your name is. And in Exodus 3:14, God tells Moses, I AM who I AM, tell the people I AM has sent you.
Now do you see why the Jews wanted to stone Jesus? He was making the claim that He was God. He called Himself I AM. He was telling the Jews – – –
I AM the One who forgives sins.
I AM the One who heals.
I AM the One who brings love, peace and joy.
I AM the One who gives courage to the weak.
I AM the One who offers salvation.
I AM the One who offers abundant life.
I AM the One who will judge the living and dead.
Jesus is the ONE. He is God, He conquered and destroyed death because of the resurrection. Jesus came to offer us life in this world, and life in the world which is to come; and He offers us a powerful and amazing relationship with Him, today!
It can’t be interpreted in any other way than as a unique claim to deity. The striking thing is that Jesus is forcing this issue upon these men. He does not placate them; He does not try to compromise with them or calm them down. That’s one of the qualities about Jesus I love. He doesn’t buy into their false motives and beliefs. In fact, He enrages them, again and again, claiming things they refuse to accept; which only makes them angrier and more determined to get rid of Him.
Jesus hits harder and harder each time, each claim more staggering than the preceding one. He drove them to action, He forced a decision until; threatened, angry and filled with rage, John tells us in 8:59 - -
59 At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
We can’t humanly explain away the miracle of the Messiah. There’s no logical answer as to how a dead man, comes alive again. Just as there’s no logical explanation for the miraculous birth. We accept, and not just accept, but we look at Jesus through the eyes of faith. We don’t understand God’s ways of doing life, yet, we’re called to trust He has the plan and the purpose for our lives – and we surrender, and submit ourselves to Him.
In the same way that Jesus HID himself in their midst, I wonder how often we relegate Jesus to be a hidden fixture in our lives? You see, the question is how many of us really know Jesus? Not superficially! Like He’s an acquaintance.
Jesus promises to be with us, He promises to be here and there and everywhere we go. Yet too often He’s invisible in our midst. It makes me wonder how many of us are like those Jewish religious leaders, always arguing with Jesus, not really believing what He says and who He says He is. Yet, Jesus offers us – Himself.
He is the Resurrection and the Life
He is the Light of the World,
He is the Bread of Life,
He is the True Vine,
He is the Door,
He is the Good Shepherd,
He is the Way, the Truth and the Life; and
He is . . . I AM . . . He is God.
I find it interesting that John 9 begins with Jesus healing a blind man. A man who did not know Jesus, who never heard Him speak, yet His eyes and heart are opened to the Son of God.
May the eyes of your heart also be opened to Jesus, God’s Son, our Lord and Savior, our Leader and Guide.
Who is Jesus, I say He is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Way.
Who do you say Christ is?
