I AM

John 8:58

 

            The challenge of Jesus was captured eloquently by C.S. Lewis when he put forward the conundrum known as “Lord, Liar or Lunatic.”  Lewis said that one cannot accept the notion that Jesus was merely a great ethical teacher, for any teacher who taught the things about himself that Jesus taught must either be 1) a liar, who knew his self-portrait was inflated, 2) a lunatic, who really thought that he was divine in much the same way that some severely mentally ill people today think they are Jesus, or 3) the Lord of the universe.  Lewis continued his “Lord, Liar or Lunatic”  argument by saying that Jesus’ words and actions demonstrate far too much congruity and integrity to give credence to either accusation of liar or lunatic.  This leaves us with but one conclusion; namely, that Jesus was what he proclaimed himself to be: Lord of the universe.

 

            But how can we know that Jesus made such a proclamation?  After all, no where in the gospels does Jesus come out and say, “Hey, look at me!  I’m Lord of the universe. I’m the Kyrie.”[1]  No such blatant word is heard from Jesus’ lips, at least not to our ears.  But our ears, conditioned as they are to 21^st century religion and culture, do not hear the words of Jesus in quite the same way as those who heard Jesus in the first century.  In the first century Jesus’ words would have been heard with both clarity and alarm, for the Jews of Jesus’ day would have heard him proclaim himself to be both Lord and God.

 

*****

 

            In the Book of Exodus, God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3).  You may remember the story.  God orders Moses to take off his sandals, for Moses is standing on holy ground, made holy because the presence of the Lord is in his midst.  The Lord then assures Moses that he indeed has seen the suffering of his people Israel, and the Lord is sending Moses to his people Israel to tell them this wondrous news.  But Moses objects, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13).  And God answers Moses: “I AM WHO I AM.[2]  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).  These words, which we translate “I AM” came to be known as God’s name.

 

            Over time the Israelites stopped saying the divine name, if they ever even said it at all.  For the ancient Israelites, God’s name was too sacred to use.  They chose instead to distance themselves from God’s name by using such words as Adonai, which means “the Lord,” or Jehovah which is an amalgamation of Yahweh and Adonai, using the Hebrew consonants of Yahweh and the Hebrew vowels of Adonai;[3] essentially, Jehovah is a nickname for God.  Eventually, however, even the nickname Jehovah was too close to the actual divine name, and the Isrealites began to use the word hashem, which literally means the (ha) name (shem).

 

            The name God gives to himself is an interesting contrast to the names the Israelites gave to God.  In the ancient Hebrew, there were three primary names the Israelites used to call upon God: Elohim (God of Eternity), El-Elyon (God Most High), and El-Shaddai (God Almighty).  All of these names are “big” names that lift up the greatness of God; it seems as if there is something in the human spirit that needs to perceive of God as Greater, as Above Us, as Transcendent, but greatness is not what God chooses to highlight in his own self-expression.

 

            C.S. Lewis has an interesting depiction of this contrast in his book A Horse and His Boy.  In the book, the lead character, Shasta, is fleeing the evil land of Tarsheesh and making his way to Narnia.  Along the way Shasta gets separated from his horse, a delightful talking horse named Bree, and his best friend, Aravis, and finds himself lost, walking by himself through a dense fog over a treacherous mountain pass.  Suddenly, Shasta realizes that he is not alone.

 

“Who are you?” he said, scarcely above a whisper.

“One who has waited long for you to speak,” said the Thing.  Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.

Are you—are you a giant?” asked Shasta.

“You might call me a giant,” said the Large Voice. “But I am not like the creatures you call giants.”

… “Who are you?” asked Shasta.

“Myself,” said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again “Myself,” loud and clear and gay: and then the third time “Myself,” whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it.

 

There is something in the human spirit that needs to see God as grand, as a giant.  The ancient Israelite sense of the sacredness of God is an honest, human habit that expresses a true desire to honor God. Yet it is fascinating to recognize that there is something in God that reveals himself much more humbly, as the One who simply is, the source and foundation of all that is, the One who needs no embellishment.  I believe God revealed his divine name for a reason, for intimacy and communion and not for distance. God revealed his divine name because God desires to be known.

 

*****

 

            Jesus took upon himself the divine name: I AM.  In the midst of an argument with other Jewish teachers regarding the source of Jesus’ authority to teach and to say the things he said, Jesus counters with an accusation that these other Jewish teachers are not truly Abraham’s children, for if they were, they would accept Jesus’ teachings (John 8:39)!  In the firestorm that erupted following Jesus’ accusation, Jesus is accused of not really knowing what he is talking about: “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” they ask (John 8:53).  Jesus claims that not only is he greater than father Abraham, but that he preceded father Abraham.  Listen carefully to how Jesus makes this claim: “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM” (John 8:58).  

            Notice the odd construction of Jesus’ sentence.  Ordinary speech would have Jesus say, “Before Abraham was born, I was [born].”  Yet Jesus ignores ordinary construction to place himself in the timeless present reserved only for God: I AM.  That the other Jewish teachers heard Jesus’ words as a claim to divinity is confirmed by their response: “At this, they picked up stones to stone him,” (John 8:59).  As the argument was in the midst of the Temple grounds, and as the Temple was in the middle of its not yet complete reconstruction, no doubt there would have been plenty of stones around to pick up; there is a sense of verisimilitude to the text at this point.  But why would they want to stone Jesus for saying what he said?  The answer is found in Leviticus 24:16: “anyone blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death.” Those who heard Jesus’ words heard them for what they were: a claim to be deity and therefore blasphemy according to Jewish faith.

 

*****

 

            Seven times in the Gospel of John Jesus makes an “I AM” statement: I AM the bread of life (6:35), I AM the light of the world (8:12), I AM the gate for the sheep (10:7), I AM the good shepherd (10:11), I AM the resurrection (11:25), I AM the way, the truth and the life (14:6), and I AM the true vine (15:1). In each of these statements, Jesus lays claim to the divine name’s heritage; he boldly announces his ministry of mediation, that through him only can the fullness and grace of God be found.

 

            Commentators long have noted that Jesus’ I AM statements are functional rather than ontological; that is, they suggest how Jesus relates with God’s people and what Jesus is for God’s people rather than make statements about who Jesus is in his nature and character.  Thus, Jesus is not bread, light or a gate but uniquely serves in such a way that to hear him is to be fed by God, to see him is to receive God’s light for our journey, to accept him is to pass through into the pastures of God’s love.

 

            What follows are seven essays, one for each of the I AM statements of Jesus.  I commend them to you as explorations into the way Jesus reaches into our lives to touch our hearts, minds and lives in ways that lead us to join the great chorus of faith that celebrates the Lordship of Jesus, our Kyrie.