Reading
John 8:21-30
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
Meditation
No one can dwell with Jesus without faith in his passion and resurrection. Jesus goes to meet the cross consciously and freely lays down his life (Jn 10:18), but far from representing a suicide, his death, with his arms stretched between earth and heaven, will be the definitive sign of his love for the 'humanity.
The mystery of Jesus' sacrifice is the door to enter the heart of the Redeemer, the intimate nature of God, which is unconditional love. His surrender on the cross is not a defeat but the definitive word with which he reveals the merciful face of God. A word that is not the fruit of human reasoning, because as Paul affirms "the word of the cross is foolishness for those who go to perdition, but for those who are saved, for us it is the power of God "(1 Cor 1:18).
Jesus uses the expression "I am" (Gr. Ego eimi) according to the use made of it in the Old Testament for God's self-identification, in particular in the book of Exodus (Ex 3:14) and of Isaiah (Is 40-55), thus declaring his own divine nature. Jews who reject Jesus show their ignorance, having brought numerous proofs of his identity from the very beginning of his ministry. Many Jews, however, will believe Jesus after his death, realizing that those they refused was the promised Messiah (Acts 2:36.37.41).
Jesus is the one who spoke from the beginning of all the Scriptures, as the mediator of the divine covenant and also the one of whom all the Scriptures speak, as he himself will reveal to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:27). Those who do not believe deprive themselves of the understanding of that horizon of light that goes beyond suffering and death.
"The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone" (v. 29): upon hearing these words of Jesus, many Jews believed. Faith makes us discover that even our existence is not abandoned to itself but is inhabited by a presence of love. The divine name "I am", which Jesus makes his own, expresses God's fidelity despite the infidelity of men and his favor for a thousand generations.
Prayer
Open our eyes, o Lord, to the understanding of your mystery of salvation, so that we can live in communion with you, an inexhaustible source of love. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
