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Before Abraham Was
Where We Are
We are deep in the fifth week of Lent, and the tension in Jerusalem has become unbearable. The evangelist John brings us to the most explosive confrontation yet: Jesus declares "Before Abraham was, I AM," claiming the sacred divine name revealed at the burning bush. The first reading from Genesis recalls God's covenant with Abraham, the patriarch whose faith founded a nation. Today, that faith collides with the fury of Abraham's descendants who cannot accept what stands before them.
The Word
God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham, changing his name from Abram and promising that he will be the father of a multitude of nations. In The Temple, Jesus tells the Jews that Abraham rejoiced to see his day. They protest: you are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham? Jesus replies with the words that will seal his death warrant: "Before Abraham came to be, I AM." They pick up stones to throw at him, but he slips away. The "I AM" is the sacred name God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, a claim to eternal divine existence that leaves no room for neutrality.
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Reflect
"Before Abraham was, I AM." The grammar is deliberately jarring and theologically precise. Jesus does not say "I was" but "I AM," using the eternal present tense of divinity. He is not claiming to be old; he is claiming to be timeless. Abraham existed within history; Jesus exists beyond it, before it, above it.
His opponents understand the claim perfectly, which is why they reach for stones. The penalty for blasphemy is death, and in their judgment Jesus has just committed the ultimate blasphemy by applying the divine name to himself. This is not a misunderstanding to be cleared up with better communication. It is the clearest possible confrontation between who Jesus claims to be and what his hearers are willing to accept.
Genesis provides the covenant that makes this confrontation intelligible. Abraham believed God's impossible promise, descendants as numerous as the stars from a childless old man, and that faith was counted as righteousness. Now Abraham's descendants face an even more staggering claim: the man standing before them in The Temple is the God who made the promise to Abraham in the first place. The stones they pick up will eventually find their target, not here in the Temple but on Golgotha, where the I AM will be lifted up for all to see.
Living It
How large is your image of Jesus? Many of us carry a domesticated version of Christ, a wise teacher, a compassionate healer, a moral example, someone we admire and try to imitate. But "I AM" does not permit a comfortable, manageable Jesus who fits neatly within the boundaries of our existing worldview. The claim is total: worship or rejection. There is no dignified middle ground. Today, sit with the discomfort of that absolute claim rather than softening it into something easier to hold. Ask yourself honestly: if he truly is the I AM, what corner of your life have you been keeping outside his lordship, as though he were something less than God?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, before Abraham was, you are. Before the world began, you are. Before I drew my first breath, you knew me and loved me. Forgive me for the times I have reduced you to something manageable. Help me to stand before your true identity without flinching, and to worship you as you truly are. Amen.
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