Divine Mystery “I AM”

John 8 USCCB please check on verse 28:

Jesus, the Father’s Ambassador.*

21He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin.* Where I am going you cannot come.”n

22* So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”

23He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.o

24That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM,* you will die in your sins.”p

25* So they said to him, “Who are you?”q Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.

26I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.”r

27They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.

28So Jesus said (to them), “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.s 💜🤟🙏🕊️🔥

29The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.”

30Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.


Footnotes:

* [8:21–30] He whose ambassador I am is with me. Jesus’ origin is from God; he can reveal God. 💜🤟🙏🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🔥🔥🔥🔥

* [8:21] You will die in your sin: i.e., of disbelief; cf. Jn 8:24. Where I am going you cannot come: except through faith in Jesus’ passion-resurrection. 💜🤟🙏🕊️🔥

* [8:22] The Jews suspect that he is referring to his death. Johannine irony is apparent here; Jesus’ death will not be self-inflicted but destined by God.

* [8:24, 28] I AM: an expression that late Jewish tradition understood as Yahweh’s own self-designation (Is 43:10); see note on Jn 4:26. Jesus is here placed on a par with Yahweh. 💜🤟🙏🕊️🔥

* [8:25] What I told you from the beginning: this verse seems textually corrupt, with several other possible translations: “(I am) what I say to you”; “Why do I speak to you at all?” The earliest attested reading (Bodmer Papyrus P66) has (in a second hand), “I told you at the beginning what I am also telling you (now).” The answer here (cf. Prv 8:22) seems to hinge on a misunderstanding of Jn 8:24 “that I AM” as “what I am.” 💜🤟🙏🕊️🔥

* [8:31–59] Jesus’ origin (“before Abraham”) and destiny are developed; the truth will free them from sin (Jn 8:34) and death (Jn 8:51).

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION

“A God merciful and gracious”

210 After Israel’s sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses’ prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love.18 When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name ‘the LORD’ [YHWH].”19 Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, “YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God.20

211 The divine name, “I Am” or “He Is”, expresses God’s faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men’s sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps “steadfast love for thousands”.21 By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is “rich in mercy”.22 By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that “I AM”.”23 💜🙏🤟🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🔥🔥🔥🔥

18 Cf. Ex 32; 33:12-17.
19 Ex 33:18-19.
20 Ex 34:5-6; cf. 34:9.
21 Ex 34:7.
22 Eph 2:4.
23 Jn 8:28 (Gk.). 💜🤟🙏🕊️🔥

God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love

604 By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.”408 God “shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”409

408 1 Jn 4:10; 4:19. 💜🙏🤟🕊️🔥🔥🔥🔥
409 Rom 5:8. 💜🙏🤟🕊️🔥🔥🔥🔥