Who is Jesus?

April 10, 2025 - Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

John 8:51–59

For several days, we have been listening to John’s Gospel, chapter 8, and have observed the mounting tension between Jesus and His listeners. In today’s passage, that tension reaches its climax with the accusation that Jesus is possessed and an attempt to kill Him for blasphemy.

The remarkable acts performed by Jesus—and the bold claims He made about Himself—were truly shocking. “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” Who could utter such words? Only someone either out of His mind or truly the revelation of God as depicted in the Bible. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Jesus is the revelation of the “I AM”—the Lord who created the universe and restores life with His word.

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and offered her the gift of living water, she asked, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” (John 4:12). Today, as Jesus offers the promise of eternal life to those who keep His word, the Jews ask, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” The question “Who is Jesus?” is the central theme of the Gospels and the cornerstone of the Church’s proclamation. Both the Samaritan woman and the Jews were astonished by the offers Jesus made to them, prompting the question: “Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Before His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus acknowledged that He was the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. In front of the Jewish leaders, He affirmed His divine identity by declaring, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The phrase “I AM” is the name of God revealed to Moses and the people of Israel in the Book of Exodus—a shocking statement that is often overlooked today. Yet the entire passage is filled with such declarations. What does Jesus mean when He says that Abraham saw His day and rejoiced?

Finally, there is the famous statement, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born a few years before the death of Herod the Great, and it is generally accepted that He was 33 years old at the time of His death. However, an ancient tradition holds that Jesus was 46 years old when His ministry began. In this tradition, Jesus would have been as old as the temple that Herod the Great had reconstructed.

So, who is Jesus? What great mystery surrounds His person and life? The Gospel’s proclamation is truly astonishing: Jesus, who existed from eternity, was born of a virgin, is the living temple that surpasses all man-made edifices, and is the very image of the invisible God. We believe in this proclamation. Yet, we must acknowledge that some still cannot accept it and even oppose it in various ways.