Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM

21 MARCH (Jn 8,51-59)

Abraham is a man with a dynamic faith. A faith that is always listening to the Word of God and that lasts a lifetime. The Lord speaks. Abraham listens and executes. The Lord says, and he obeys. That of Abraham is a true faith in transcendence, in the eternal future. It is a faith in a present in which we live of listening, but for the realization of a future that is not in our hands. It is a gift of God for our faith today. Here is what the Letter to the Hebrews says of Abraham.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age – and Sarah herself was sterile – for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol. (Heb 11,8-19).

It is as if Abraham saw this future in the faith: both in time and in eternity. It was this vision of faith that drove him to an always perfect, holy, ready and immediate obedience. God led him to the perfection of faith when he asked him for his son, his only son, the son of the promise and blessing. Only God is the future of a man. A man must live only for his Lord and dissolve, annihilate, sink and destroy himself in Him. Today, Jesus tells us that Abraham had also the grace to see one of his days. He saw it and was glad, rejoiced at this gift from the Almighty.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” (So) the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

If Abraham rejoiced and was glad to have seen in a vision of faith one of the days of Jesus, the joy of the Jews should be more immense greater, higher and more perfect. They do not see in a vision the Son of the promise and blessing. They listen, touch and see Jesus. He lives with them. He lives among them. He is present in the reality of his physical body. Evidently there is a break-up, discrepancy, detachment, great falling away of the Jews from Abraham. Abraham’s faith is not their faith. This means that the God of Abraham is not their God. The Jews have changed God, that is why they do not know Jesus Christ. They are children of Abraham according to the flesh only, not according to faith any more. This change of God always happens when man falls into great sin. Sin darkens the mind, heart and desires. It cancels the will and man is at the mercy of the great idolatry. His God is an idol.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us morally correct.