Name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit. Amen. If we had been present in this confrontation between Jesus and what they referred to as the Jews. Remember, Jesus is a Jew. The apostles were Jews.
So let's keep this in mind. Where would we have stood at this? Here is a man, obviously a man, who comes from not from the capital. He is not from Judea, he's a Galilean from way up in the North, up in the lake country, up in the wilderness, from some little old town up there that nobody ever heard about. And here he's in the temple precincts and the crazy things the man is saying Because it's ridiculous that he says before Abraham was I am.
And here is a most important point that I can't convey it with a spoken word. And I don't know whether I can convey it at all because it has to do with language. Now, when Christ says, I solemnly declare it before Abraham came to be, I am. The text here prints I am in great big caps. Why?
See, there's a long story to this. It all goes all the way back to Moses and the burning bush. Only definition we have of God is I am. Now there's a play with the Hebrew words on this and it was such a sacred phrase that the Jews never used it and they substituted another phrase for it. So that when Jesus says, I am, here's where the translator comes into the picture.
When he says I am, he is using the definition of God for himself. You follow? Supposing my name is I am, I claim to be I am. And then somebody meets me on the street and says, who are you? And I say, I am.
That's my name. That's exactly the play on words here. Now I admit that this is a translator's interpretation, but the point is what they are saying here is that Jesus here is claiming to be God. Explicitly claiming to be God because every Jew was acquainted with this problem. Now, as I say, where would we have stood?
On whose side would we have had any more understanding than those who heard Jesus? Now, did they know much of it? Remember, this is towards the end of his life. How much did they know of his background? How much did they know of the wonders he had worked?
How much did they know of what he had said about himself? But here he is making claims that that do at least two things. First of all, they seem to be utterly absurd that a man who is standing here alive could say that before Abraham was, he was. That is crazy. And then secondly, he seems to be downgrading the prophets and that's close to blasphemy.
So where would we have stood? What would have been your reaction to Jesus Christ? Would you have recognized as something different? Would you? Let's not be too hard on these people.
They were the defenders of law and order. They were the establishment. They were the ones who had dedicated their lives and some of them in great detail to follow out what was considered the law and its interpretation in hundreds and hundreds of details. Their life was completely circumscribed with all kinds of attention to little things that you do it this way, you don't do it that way. If you do it the wrong way, consequence follows, then you have to go and get cleaned up again.
It was a much it was a convoluted, confusing, mixed up life. But don't don't forget it. Many people followed it and still do because of their allegiance to God almighty. Because somebody does silly things, don't think you can necessarily conclude that they're insincere and dishonest. But the sincerity and honesty, they don't correct the misjudgments and the crazy things we do.
Just because I do something honestly and sincerely and with integrity, that doesn't make my action good or bad as an as an objective thing. So I ask you again, where would you have stood if you face Jesus Christ in temple precincts? Where do you stand today in recognizing Jesus Christ? It is not easy to recognize Jesus Christ. Very religious men have said that the main obstacle between man and God is religion.
Does that make any sense to you? Well, makes a lot to me. Because you see so much of what we call religion is made up of signs and symbols. And it's very remember, the very essence of a sign and a symbol is that it stands for something that it ain't. That's the very definition of a sign and a symbol.
Because if it is what it is, then it's not a sign or a symbol, it has the identity with itself. So the very essence of the meaning of sign and symbol is that something stands for something else. And we're surrounded with that in religion because we're human beings. But to see the danger is we can get so lost in the signs and the symbols that we lose sight of what they stand for and that is God Almighty. And it is not easy to recognize God at all times.
Oh, it's sometimes it's easy because we say we feel close to God. Well, my advice then is beware because if there's anything I have to say about feeling is distrust it utterly. So that discovering and recognizing Jesus Christ is not an easy thing, we need the grace of God to do it. Just remember this phrase from Saint John, it is not that I have first loved God, but that God has first loved me. Think of that.
Don't look upon yourself as carrying the weight of the universe to go back to God. God first came to you. And so when we put ourselves into the presence, the actuality of these scenes of Christ, let us not be hard on those who found him difficult to accept. Jesus Christ today is difficult to accept. The name of the father and of the son, holy spirit.
Amen.