John 8:58

Jesus responds, “You just don’t get it! The truth is, before Abraham existed, I AM already there.”  John 8:58 EFP 

Truly the Jewish contingent and, in fact, the people listening to him on that day do not get it. There is no way they could get it. The very thought of him claiming to have come down from heaven, and calling God is father, already puts Jesus at the edge of credulity. Jesus is, after all, a Galilean carpenter turned rabbi. It is a challenge to get their minds around these concepts.  But now he has gone so far out on a limb that he is in danger of putting their minds on overload.

It is not by perchance that Jesus uses the expression “I AM” to make this amazing declaration. I AM, was for all intents and purposes the same words used to name the Almighty and Eternal God—YHWH! He is not only saying he is already present when Abraham walks the dusty roads of Palestine, he is the “I AM” that predated Abraham’s arrival in the historical record.

How is that possible? How can a person who is living in the first century of the common era, also be a contemporary of the Patriarch Abraham that lived millennia before? It is impossible from a purely human perspective—it does not fit the rational and scientific paradigm. So, it is either true or Jesus is the most misguided and delusional man who ever lived—also the most believable, since he backed up his claims with actions. I am left, two millennia later to make up my 21st century mind regarding Jesus of Nazareth, who made claims to be, not only the Son of God, but God himself in human flesh.  It is either unbelievable, thus making all his followers similarly delusional, or it is foundational to the faith held by innumerable believers from all the ages. Where do I stand?