I AM

Three times in this very week, our Gospel accounts, in preparation for Holy Week and the Passion and Death of Jesus, just a week away (Holy Thursday is NEXT THURSDAY!), highlight the confrontations Jesus had with his opponents  in which he directly uses the Divine Name, I AM, in reference to himself.  It's as if he were trying to reveal explicitly who he was to those who should have known, the teachers and leaders of the people.  Yet, they refused to accept it, though they did "hear it" so much so that they took up stones to hurl at him for making himself equal to God.  If we apply this scenario to ourselves, two things stand out here: 1) how much Jesus wants to make himself known to us, how directly he reveals himself and gives of himself, e.g. our daily Scripture selections at Mass, the Holy Eucharist itself, the loving people who are part of our daily lives so that we may know and love him..  2) He is shouting to us, "I AM" and we deafly go about our busyness, or persist in our petty whining about having too much to do, or being tired or being annoyed by "those people", or like the Pharisees, take up the stones of our self-righteousness to throw at him.
Its so easy to contemn the Jews for their rejection of Jesus, or, in the case of religion teachers, castigating our pupils for their blind ignorance or belligerent argumentativeness, but first, we need to look at ourselves and see how often we miss Jesus' loving and persistent efforts to show us who he is, and invite us to a closer, deeper friendship with him. How many Lents, how many Easters do we need to embrace with our whole beings this Jesus whose persistent love and call to be ONE with him echoes in the recesses of our hearts minute after minute? Jesus, as we approach the final days of Lent open my ears and eyes to hear and see that you are indeed I AM.
Bro. Rene