“For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Let us consider for a moment the significance of what Jesus says. In Jewish tradition “I AM” was how God referred to Himself. We need only think of the encounter of God with Moses in the Book of Exodus. When Moses asks God His name, the answer comes, “I am who am” (Exodus 3:14). This Divine self-reference we find also in Isaiah: “I am God, yes, from eternity I am He” (Isaiah 43:12-13). The reference, the purpose, and the meaning of what Jesus says is clear.
I recall someone once telling me that he liked the Bible, if only one removed those dogmatic references. He found them disturbing, perhaps even annoying. As long as Jesus admonished us to greater love and charity that seemed enough for him. All those references to belief in teachings, on the other hand, were superfluous. I am afraid that my friend’s way of thinking is not uncommon in our contemporary world and represents a very selective reading of the Sacred Scriptures.
The fact remains that Jesus comes to reveal the truth. He makes this clear on numerous occasions. For example, he says, “[T]he one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world” (John 8:26). Soon after He adds, “But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God” (John 8:40). In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: “Jesus himself is the presence of the living God. God and man, God and the world, touch one another in him” (Jesus of Nazareth: Part Two, Holy Week, Ignatius Press, 2011, p. 40). The Truth — with a capital “T” — is revealed in our Lord, Jesus Christ, precisely because He is who He is, the eternal Son of God, Savior of the world. This is the Truth that makes a difference.