Friends,
today Jesus refers to himself as "I AM," the name God revealed to
Moses. So let’s reflect on this episode from Genesis. While tending
sheep in the hill country, Moses sees a strange sight. There an angel of
the Lord appears to him in fire, flaming out of a bush. God sees him
and calls him by name: "Moses, Moses. I am the God of your fathers, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." This is a very
familiar God, one who knows Moses’ ancestors.
Moses
makes bold to ask, "If the Israelites ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what
am I to tell them?" God replied: "I am who I am." What does that mean?
God is saying, in essence, "I cannot be defined, described, or
delimited. I am not a being, but rather the sheer act of to-be itself."
"This
is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." The sheer
act of being itself cannot be avoided, and it cannot be controlled. It
can only be surrendered to in faith. How shocking and strange Jesus’
listeners must have found it when Jesus took this name for himself!
Reflect: What is your definition of God? What does it mean to you that
God is not a being—not even a Supreme Being—but the "sheer act of to-be
itself "?
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 254
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
"My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God."
God also said to Abraham:
"On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages."
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.
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