In the book of Exodus, God appeared to Moses asking him to free the Israelites who were enslaved by the Egyptians. Unsure of his ability to achieve this outcome, Moses asks God what he is to say to the Israelites.

God says to Moses, “I am who I am,” and that he should answer their question by saying “I am has sent me to you.”

When Jesus tells his followers, “I am the bread of life,” his words confused his audience as they understood them literally. They also wondered if Jesus was making a claim about his identity. His followers understood the statement as an assertion that Jesus was identifying himself as God.

There are six more incidents in John’s gospel where Jesus uses the words “I am,” and each time an action accompanies his words. In this first saying, Jesus’ claim follows the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness.

“I am the light of the world” is the second of the “I am” statements and comes after the healing of a man born blind. Jesus not only says he is the light, but he proves it, and in doing so echoes the words of Genesis where God said, “Let there be light and there was light.”

“I am the door,” and “I am the good shepherd” are both statements about the sheepfold, and the shepherd as the one who loves and cares for the flock even to the point of death. The title of good shepherd is unmistakably one of God’s titles as we learn in the beloved twenty-third psalm.

Jesus states, “I am the resurrection and the life,” after raising Lazarus from the dead. Again, his words are not empty rhetoric but substantiated by action. This gospel, written at a time when the followers of Jesus were being cast out of the synagogues, offers a definitive response to those who rejected them by asserting, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”

The final statement, “I am the true vine, and you are the branches,” emphasises the sustaining power of Christ without whom we will not bear fruit in the Christian life.

There are two more “I am” statements in John’s gospel, but they are not metaphors like the above seven instances but are instead declarations applied by Jesus to himself. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says, “before Abraham was born, I am.” The final instance occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane when the mob comes to arrest Jesus and, when he asks them whom they seek, they say, “Jesus of Nazareth,” and Jesus replies, “I am he.”

All of these statements of Jesus make it abundantly clear that Jesus is God. Each day we are invited to accept the presence of Jesus in our lives and to walk faithfully in his way.

Michael A Kelly CSsR

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