"I AM, YOU ARE"

Sermon Summary, “I AM, You Are” (John (selected verses)) 

Pretending is a great kid’s game. “I am Superman.”  “I am Wonderwoman.”  “I am a cowboy.” Remember?  Well, there were questions swirling around Jesus, too, to the point that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” One said, “John the Baptist” another, “Elijah” a third, “One of the prophets. Jesus then asked, “But who do you say that I am?”  We then hear Peter’s great confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  Wow!

The answer becomes a theme in the Gospel of John.  It first appears in the story of the woman at the well in chapter 4.  The woman says, I know the Messiah is coming...when he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”  Jesus says to her, “I AM.”  (most translations force sound English grammar by saying, “I am he,” but the Greek is “I AM.”)  In chapter 5, Jesus walks to the boat on water and tells the terrified disciples, “Do not be afraid, I AM.”

“I AM” derives from the story of Moses at the burning bush where asked by Moses, “Who shall I tell the Israelites (in Egypt) has sent me.”  God says to Moses, “Tell them that I AM WHO I AM has sent you.”  This is the conjugation of the crude Hebrew form of the verb “to be,”  I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE.  In “Revelation” Jesus tells us “Grace and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come.”  Of course the Biblical narrative tells us that “he was” the Creator, the personal God who walked in the garden, the savior of the people of Israel, through Jesus Christ the Savior of all humanity, and he is the one who will come again.  Powerful stuff, all wrapped up in this little verb, “to be.”

Seven times in John, Jesus tells us that he is the unqualified, “I AM.”  Seven other times Jesus declares himself I AM by what he does for us, for example, “I AM the bread of life,” “I AM the gate for the sheep,” “I AM the Good Shepherd,” “I AM the resurrection and the life,” “I AM the way, the truth, and the life,” “I AM the true vine.” 

When Jesus declares, “I AM the light of the world,” he is standing in the Temple courtyard during the Feast of the Tabernacles bathed in light from torches and lamps.  Yet he says, “I AM the light of the world.  Those who follow me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.” 

Of course in John 20:21 Jesus commissions his disciples by saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  In Matthew, Jesus has told us, “You are the light of the world.”  “I AM the light of the world,” “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” “You are the light of the world.”  “I AM, you are. Let your light shine before others that they may see you good works and give glory to God in heaven!”