Thursday of the
Fifth Week of Lent
(Genesis 17:5-9; John 8:51-59)
In the Gospel of John Jesus is not tried before the
Sanhedrin. Unlike the three other
gospels, after being arrested Jesus is given only a brief interrogation by the former
high priest Annas. He is then brought to the house of Caiaphas before being
delivered to Pilate. But this is not to
say that Jesus is not tried by the Jews in the Gospel of John. Indeed, he is asked the same kind of
questions in passages like today’s gospel that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have him
face in the Sanhedrin trial. John has typically
reworked the sayings about Jesus that were handed down in the apostles’
preaching.
“Who do you make yourself to be?” the Jews ask
Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark the high
priest asks Jesus a similarly pointed question, “Are you the Messiah, the son
of the Blessed One?” In both cases Jesus
answers with the same, “I am,” echoing God’s name for Himself in Exodus. It is a moment of truth, and Jesus, as he
says in the passage, cannot deny that he is God’s Son.
It is time for us also to give testimony. Jesus touches our lives every day. We may not be able to say that we have seen him,
but we pray to him. Invariably, it
seems, he saves us from failure and distress.
We can truly say that he is the Son of God.
