The God We Worship: Jesus and "I AM"

The God We Worship:
Jesus and “I AM”
John 8:48-58

There are many different opinions about Jesus and who he was and is. Many would say he is a great religious and moral teacher. In his own day, many saw Jesus as a great prophet. The opinions are many and varied. But many of these opinions are not based on what Jesus claimed for himself, who Jesus understood himself to be.

I. God’s Name
To understand what Jesus said about himself we go back to an encounter between Moses and God. Moses was tending sheep and saw a bush on fire. Not that unusual except that the bush was not burned up. Moses met God at this bush. It is an interesting conversation as Moses tried to evade the mission God had chosen for him. Then Moses asked a question, "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?" Ex 3:13. God’s answer is the name that God gives himself, the name that Israel will know him by, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Ex 3:14. It is from these words that the personal name of God, Yahweh or Jehovah, came to be derived. God is “I AM”, the one who exists before time. It is this personal name of God by which Israel addressed God.

Israel considered this name so holy they would not pronounce it. Instead when they came to this word they learned to pronounce an entirely different word, usually the word for ‘Lord’ in Hebrew. As the Hebrew scripture was translated into other languages different principles were used. Some translations transliterated the word into the language and so in the ASV we read Jehovah in the OT text. Others translated the word with LORD in all capital letters. “I AM” was translated with a similar phrase. This was true in the Greek translation of Hebrew scripture called the Septuagint. It was this Greek translation of the Old Testament that was the Bible of the 1st century church. Many writers of our New Testament books quoted from this translation. The early church would have been familiar with the Greek “I AM” language that John uses in his gospel.

II. Jesus in John’s Gospel
John’s gospel is probably the last gospel to be written. He writes it about fifty years after Jesus’ ministry and resurrection. We don’t know if John had read any of the other gospel accounts but his gospel is so different from the other three that it seems unlikely. What John had done for the last fifty years was think about Jesus. John meditated on Jesus’ actions and his words and, by guidance of the Holy Spirit, gained a deeper insight into who Jesus is. As we saw last week as we looked briefly at John 1:1-18, John had come to understand that Jesus was the divine Word of God who had become flesh in the man Jesus.

Jesus got into trouble with the Jewish authorities because he identified himself closely with God. When Jesus was questioned about healing on the Sabbath he answered, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working," John 5:17. The response of the Jewish authorities is seen in the next verse, “For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God,” John 5:18. They recognized that Jesus was making claims that no prophet, priest or religious leader had ever made. It was blasphemy, unless it was true.
John recorded Jesus using this “I am” language in many ways. Jesus made seven statements such as “I am the bread of life” or “I am the vine”. But Jesus went even farther and used the “I AM” name for himself. One of the clearest instances is in John 8. I have always found this exchange interesting because it is with “Jews who had believed in him.” John 8:31. The conversation ends when these same Jews try to kill Jesus. The reason they try to kill him is found in this last exchange,
“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
John 8:56-58
There is no doubt about what Jesus is saying. He is identifying himself with the “I AM” who spoke to Abraham, who spoke to Moses in the burning bush. As some author observed either Jesus was speaking the truth or he was the biggest egomaniac that has ever lived.

Why would anyone believe such a statement except that Jesus backed up what he said with actions? Again, Jesus is attacked when he said,
“I and the Father are one."
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." John 10:30-33
Here is the dilemma that John presents. Jesus is more than a prophet, more than a great teacher, he is the “I AM” who has become human. If he is not then what do we do about his miracles?

At Jesus’ arrest we see Jesus using this language to confront his opponents. We read,
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"
"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.
John 18:4-6
Every English translation I know of inserts “he” with the “I AM” of the original Greek. Of course why would they fall back at such a simple statement? Why would John repeat it for emphasis?

Later while the Jewish authorities are questioning Jesus we read this account in Mark,
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." Mark 14:61-62
Jesus is condemned for blasphemy but it is only blasphemy if it is not true.

The identity of Jesus is at the heart of Christianity. It is what gets us in trouble because the claims of Jesus are outrageous, unless they are true. I want to close with another outrageous statement of Jesus. Jesus again is in a discussion with his opponents and he said,
"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins." John 8:23-24. The translator added words in the parentheses. I am not a Greek scholar so I’m not going to argue with them but I think Jesus is saying something more. His words are, “if you do not believe that I am you will indeed die in your sins.” We believe that Jesus is more than a prophet, more than a great religious teacher. Jesus is “I AM”.

Livonia Church of Christ: October 23, 2005