Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, February 26, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Them’s fightin’ words. After all, the Jews’ entire identity existed in being descendants of Abraham. For Jesus to say he was around before Abraham was, well, claiming to be God. Which…you know…he was. So I guess it’s not surprising that people grabbed the nearest rocks (did they keep them stockpiled in the temple somewhere?) and chucked them at Jesus.
I think it’s a little like the way some people react when you criticize the United States. Their whole identity is so wrapped up in an idealized view of this country that pointing out its flaws—you know, like 400 years of chattel slavery followed by Jim Crow followed by the school-to-prison-pipeline—is paramount to blasphemy.
News flash. Jesus was making the point that national identity is irrelevant where God is concerned. What matters is our relationship to God, and our willingness to live in love and service to God and our neighbor. Sometimes that means taking a hard look at the evils of human society which seem inevitable in the concept of “nation,” and being willing to ask God’s forgiveness, and the forgiveness of those we’ve harmed.
Do I hold my memberships in certain groups more sacred than my relationship to God?