The lord be with you. A reading of the holy gospel according to John. And this is a continuation from yesterday's reading. Jesus said to the Jews, I solemnly assure you, if a man is true to my word, he shall never see death. The Jews retorted, now we know that you have a devil.
Abraham is dead, the prophets are dead, yet you claim a man shall never know death if he keeps my word. Surely, you do not pretend to be greater than our father Abraham and he died. Or the prophets and they died, whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, that glory comes to nothing. He who gives me glory is the father.
The very one that you claim to be your God, even though you do not know him. But I do know him. Were I to say I do not know him, I would be no better than you are, a liar. Yes, I know him well and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day.
He saw it and was glad. And at that, as you can well imagine, the Jews retorted, you are not yet 50. How can you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered, I solemnly declare it before Abraham came to be, I am. At that, this is the way to win an argument, at that they picked up stones to throw at Jesus to kill him, but he hit himself and slipped out of the temple precincts.
This is the good news of the Lord.