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Gospel: John 8: 51-59
Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
So the Jews said to him,
“Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I was once a third-grade teacher in a public school in Newark. One of the first bits of advice I received from veteran teachers was: “Never raise your voice.”
If you raise your voice, then you’ve already lost control. What you wanted your students to do before, will certainly not happen now.
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In today’s Gospel, the scribes and Pharisees continue their lengthy confrontation with Jesus. We’ve been hearing this back-and-forth between them all week, and these religious authorities simply don’t get it.
Jesus has made fantastic claims – and today he lays it all out there – “I AM.” Meaning, before the world existed, Jesus existed. He has been – and always will be – alive because he is God. As the Letter to the Hebrews states, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”
Spewing with frustration, the authorities raise their voices and resort to calling Jesus names like “demon-possessed” because they do not believe him.
They cannot.
Jesus doesn’t fit inside the box they’ve made for God.
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I’m sure that’s something we’ve all experienced before.
At times, God seems bigger, stranger, different from whom we’d imagined.
Maybe you felt this way when you understood a particular quote in the bible for the first time.
Maybe your eyes were opened after witnessing a miracle (we’ve had several examples of physical healing in our parish!)
Maybe you asked God for something and you didn’t receive it. So, your view of God changed.
Or maybe you struggle to understand all of what Catholics believe – our sins are forgiven in confession; the Eucharist is not bread – it is Jesus; the pope is the authoritative representative of Christ on earth.
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Unlike the scribes and Pharisees who resorted to name calling and violence when they failed to understand Jesus, may our hearts become softer and our minds more open to accepting him for who he is – God – yesterday, today, and forever.
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Image credits: (1) iStock (2) iStock (3) Doubting Thomas, Caravaggio