Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM

 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

- John 8:47-59

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles.  It is autumn, and the final year of Jesus' life.   He has been disputing with the leadership in the temple, specifically the Pharisees, who seek to find ways to charge Him and put Him to death.  In yesterday's reading, they answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.  How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.  I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."  They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father."  Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.  But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.  Abraham did not do this.  You do the deeds of your father."  Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God."  Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts Me of sin?  And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."   The leaders attack Christ with another accusation (the term "the Jews" refers to the religious leaders, and is used like a designation of political party -- Jesus is also a Jew, so are His disciples, which include John the author of the Gospel).  They can't defeat Him with logic or truth, and so begin to use personal insult (see also 9:34).  We notice Jesus' response.  He not only stands firm in His own truth, that their seeking of merely worldly glory ("honor from men," see 5:41-47) keeps them from true discernment, good judgment.  He then takes His teaching one step further.

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word."  The leaders also continue more deeply in their accusation, just as Jesus stands true to what He has taught.  he returns to the theme of honor.  From what do we derive honor?  What is our greatest blessing and joy?  Who is our true Father?  Whose word must we keep?

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.  Jesus reveals His identity and His truth.  I AM (in Greek, ego eimi) is the divine Name of God in the Old Testament, which was first revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15).  For the Jews, this is a direct, explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God, my study bible says, and their reaction shows precisely this effect of Jesus' astonishing claim (see also Mark 14:62-64).   My study bible further notes that John places special emphasis on the use of this Name to clearly reveal Christ as God.  This divine claim, it tells us, illuminates Christ's authority even over death (as indicated in His statement above, "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death").  This is a power that only belongs to God the Father, who shares it with the Son.  Once again, there is a sense of divine action in the use of time and space -- He evades their determination to kill Him by stoning, going through the midst of them, as it is not yet His hour, the time of the Cross.

It's interesting that Jesus presses His claim more deeply, so to speak.  He tells the full truth of His union with the Father, His identity as the Son, His fullness in sharing the divine attributes of the Father.  He does not back down from their anger, but reveals Himself, His identity, and His truth -- even as the leaders back more fiercely into their determination to put Him to death.  We see a mutual action here:  He pushes ever more strongly with explicit explanation of His words, and they are repelled more strongly to the point where they must put Him down.  They must stone Him for blasphemy.  Clearly by this time He understands they will not hear Him, as He has said repeatedly over the past several readings.  Their inability to hear Him or to receive His words is, as He says, due to their own inward orientation.  He tells them that they do not know God whom they claim to serve, and they are not truly Abraham's children -- otherwise they would rejoice to see His day, as did Abraham.   Jesus tells the truth about His relationship to the Father, but He goes further in stating the nature of truth.  Our devotion to God is tied to a devotion to truth.  This is a thread that runs all through the Gospel, from Jesus' praise of the plain-spokenness of Nathanael (1:45-47), to today's reading in which betrayal of the Father is tied to the capacity for lies and false accusation.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).  in today's reading.  Jesus ties "pure-heartedness" with the love of God.  In other words, a true love for God embodies in us a desire for truth from the inward part (Psalm 51:6) to the outside, to the words we speak (Luke 6:45).  Everything depends upon what we treasure and what we love, and from whom we seek honor.  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we discussed how identity comes from what we love.  In today's reading, Jesus conveys how what we do also comes from this place.  So much depends upon what we worship, what we love.  St. Paul will write, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).  Let us note the emphasis and subject of that sentence is love, what we choose to love, what we place first in our hearts.  Once again, in the consistency of Scripture, what or whom we choose to love plays the greatest role in our own futures, identity, being, and works.