Lenten Reflection: 16
Jesus as "I AM"
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you for certain that even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.’" (John 8:58, CEB)
I am a pastor, a Methodist pastor. It is my job, my calling. I am a husband and the father of two children, a son of my mother. Those are my relationships. I am a Korean-American. That is my nationality. I have a doctoral degree. That is is my education. Whenever we meet strangers, we tell everything about ourselves, where we work, what we like doing, whether we are married and have kids, what kind of music we like, how wonderful we are. As soon as we define ourselves like this, we limit ourselves: I am a man and not a woman. I am a human and not anther animal. Therefore when I feel limited, I am often afraid, often unsure, often wrong.
 
Jesus said “even before Abraham was, I am.” How could this be? Jesus was born of Mary long after Abraham. How did he exist before Abraham? How did he live before Abraham? Moses asked what God’s name is. God answered that his name is “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3) We are reflecting the images of Jesus with “I AM” statements of Jesus. God cannot be identified with a name such as Yahweh or Jehovah, all kinds of names and images. We confess Jesus as the Christ. Jesus is a personal name, like Seok-Hwan, Sue and Brian. Jesus is a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. Christ is the title of Jesus, meaning “anointed one” or “messiah” or “savior.” We believe this historical Jesus as the Christ, the awaited Messiah. We confess that God incarnated in this historical Jesus. When Jesus said I am before Abraham was, Jesus was indicating God in him. 
 
Helen Keller, the remarkable American woman, was left deaf and blind at the age of 19 months after an illness, totally locked in her own world. Her teacher, Annie Sullivan, taught her how to communicate with others. Later, Helen Keller told her minister: “I knew about God before you told me, only I didn’t know how to name God.”
 
As long as we stick to what we have, we limit ourselves to what was given to us. But if we accept God into us, God shows Godself to us and tell us what the “I AM” is truly like. God’s love in Jesus is so great; God’s power is so awesome; God’s knowledge is so complete; God’s awareness of all things is so total. There is nothing else to say. Jesus is “I AM WHO I AM.” If we accept Jesus as the Christ, then, we can be instruments of God’s own being in the world. What good news!
 
Reflection:
Today’s subject is very difficult to comprehend. I want to help you figure this out through a children’s song. “The Love of Jesus is so wonderful, the Love of Jesus is so wonderful, the Love of Jesus is so wonderful, oh! Wonderful love! So high you can’t get over it. So low you can’t get under it. So wide you can’t get round it. Oh! Wonderful Love!”

Pastor Seok-Hwan
Palm Sunday Service: April 5 at 9:30 AM
Holy Thursday Service: April 9 at 7:30 PM
Good Friday Service: April 10 at 7:30 PM

Easter Sunday Services: April 12
7:00 AM (Sunrise Service), 9:30 AM, 11:00 AM