The purpose of John’s Gospel is stated in John 20:30–31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
The Gospel of John is unique among the New Testament Gospels.
Rather than a chronological telling of Jesus’ life, John’s Gospel is a biography that selects and arranges episodes from his life in order to show that he is the God of the Old Testament and to lead readers to believing in him for eternal life.
The hope of the Gospel centres around resurrection. First, the resurrection of Jesus, then our own resurrection. When Christ returns, every human who has ever lived will live once again. We all will be here on this earth. Your deceased loved ones. The great and not-so-great people from our history books.
And Jesus will judge everyone, deciding who will be received into his eternal kingdom and live eternally. The single factor that affects his decision is whether or not we believe that Jesus is who he claims to be.
Today, we begin a three-part mini series within our John series that will speak clearly and directly about who Jesus claims to be. Let’s start by reading the most direct claim found in John 8:31-59.“I AM” Statements
When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” he was alluding to Exodus 3:14, and his audience would have very well known what he was doing.
What his audience would have heard was Jesus identifying himself as the same God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This wasn’t a misunderstanding. Jesus was being very clear. He was claiming to be God.
Under Jewish law, falsely claiming divine status was punishable by death, making their violent response a logical consequence of how they understood his declaration.
Throughout his Gospel, John records seven other statements that are less direct but still tell us about how we are to understand Jesus as God.All “I AM” statements:
- John 6:35 “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” This establishes a connection between spiritual nourishment and faith in him.
- John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” Jesus positions himself as the source of illumination against darkness.
- John 10:9 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” The gate metaphor presents him as the exclusive entrance to salvation,
- John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” The good shepherd image emphasizes his protective care for believers.
- John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;” Jesus is asserting authority over death itself.
- John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus functions simultaneously as the path to God, the revelation of truth, and the source of eternal existence.
- John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” Jesus presents himself as the true vine through which believers remain connected to spiritual life and fruitfulness.
There are also other places where John uses the “I am” statement that are more subtle. These include:
- John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” “He” is not in the original Greek.
- John 6:20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” to the fearful disciples in the boat as he walked toward them. “It is I” is literally “I am” in the Greek.
- John 8:18 “I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
- John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
- John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” “He” is not in the original Greek.
- John 13:19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.”
Ever since the moment that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the Israelites always knew this name, “I AM” was the greatest expression of divine identity. .
This name made him a unique God in the ancient world of gods and religions and philosophies. Because when he says, “I AM WHO I AM,” he is saying, “I am uncaused. I am self-existent.”1
And, Jesus makes the same claim about himself. Now that we see the significance of it, let’s look at the first two I AM statements that Jesus makes about himself.
The Bread of Life
The statement that Jesus is the bread of life is found in the context of the feeding of the 5000. Following the miracle in which Jesus multiplies a small amount of fish and bread in order to feed thousands of hungry people in the countryside, we find a key statement in John 6:14–15:
“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”
The miracle prompted people to identify Jesus for who he is, but only in part. He is the Prophet foretold in the ancient Scriptures who would bring salvation to the Jews.
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”
We need to allow this situation to penetrate the way we understand Jesus and how he is bringing salvation to the world. It is one thing to identify Jesus as the king and saviour of the world. It is an entirely different thing to know what sort of king and saviour he is.
If we get this wrong, as the people following Jesus around did, we will be tempted to do silly things like try to establish a Christian government or cause harm or violence in the name of Jesus.
We can see clearly in John 6:26 that Jesus knew the motivation of those who misunderstand his mission. “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
They came because their hunger had previously been satisfied and they wanted to experience that again. They were moved not by full hearts, but by full bellies. Like the woman at the well who wanted the living water (4:15) these people want the bread of God.
The motivation is that they wanted the benefits of Jesus, not Jesus himself. They thought they would be rescued because Jesus held great power. And they wanted to use his power for their benefit.
What we see in what follows is not salvation through a mighty hand and powerful miracles, but through participation with Jesus. Let’s listen the words of Jesus from John 6:35-58.
Jesus speaking of ‘drinking his blood’ in this setting gives us an important clue to what he means. Some people believe he is referring here to the Lord’s Supper, and perhaps there is some allusion to it. But, there’s something else.
To understand it, we have to look at a story from the life of King David. It was when he was fighting the Philistines, who had occupied his native town of Bethlehem.
Among David’s loyal fighting men he had three in particular who were known for their bravery and their readiness to do whatever the king might ask.
When he and his men were pinned down one day, David longed for a drink, and said out loud how much he would like to have water from the well at Bethlehem, which was inaccessible due to the Philistines.
But that didn’t stop his three heroes. Off they went, broke through the Philistine army, got water from the well at Bethlehem and brought it back to David.
1 Chronicles 11:19 “God forbid that I should do this!” he said. “Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it.”
He didn’t want to be seen to profit from their readiness to put their lives on the line for him. He poured the water out on the ground.
Coming back to the story of Jesus, he is basically saying, “If you want to profit from what I’m doing, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood.” David’s story shows that this is a metaphorical use of the term, which is an invitation from Jesus for us to benefit from his sacrifice.
Only when we turn to him as our true source of satisfaction will we experience the benefits offered by him. Only then will our hunger and thirst be satisfied. And only then will we have eternal life.
The Light of the World
The statement Jesus made in John 8:12 sets up the entire next section of John’s Gospel – “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” To illustrate how Jesus is the light, let’s look at a story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind.
He healed the man on the Sabbath, which was against the Law of Moses. Some Pharisees, who were self-appointed as God’s policemen, heard about it and examined the healed blind man, learned that Jesus had indeed done it, and then said it was impossible for anyone to heal on the Sabbath.2
Plus the man was clearly lying about having been blind. It was impossible. Sabbath keeping was more important than everything else. A person of God would never have healed on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees went to his parents and cross-examined them. The parents confirmed that their son had been born blind. The Pharisees were still not convinced and they excommunicated the son from the synagogue.
A blind person is the classic helpless human being, especially in those days. Without help from someone, life would be miserable for the blind.
The Pharisees, as leaders in the community, had responsibility for any who needed help, including the blind man. And Jesus also took responsibility for helping the blind man. Notice how the Pharisees and Jesus cared for the blind man. The Pharisees treated him impersonally.
They asked probing questions, testing his qualifications for being in the synagogue, the company of people accepted by God. When it turned out that he didn’t pass the test, they threw him out.
They were full of themselves, taking themselves very seriously and feeling the responsibility to keep the congregation pure: no sinners allowed. They understood their responsibility to judge, decide, and take the appropriate action.
The blind man was just another case study to evaluate and pass judgment. Which they did. In contrast, Jesus saw a human being. He saw need. He didn’t ask questions about sin, parents, history, or prospects.
The man was blind and obviously needed help. Jesus helped. The help in this case was healing, restoring his sight. Then the argument started. What is the responsibility of one person to another? Is it to help him to be good, or is it just to help him?
Is my primary response to another person to insist that he become good, to take responsibility to maintain law and order, morality and civility? Or is it to bring whatever help is appropriate?
The Pharisees would argue: “What good does it do to heal a man’s blindness if you do it in such a way that he is more of a sinner than before? The most important thing is the Law of God. The responsibility a leader has for another person is to enforce that Law.
If you go around helping people without making sure they obey that Law, you are not in the long run helping them at all. What is better—to be blind all your life and yet be submissive to the rules and then go to heaven, or to have the gift of sight throughout this life but be indifferent to the rules and end up going to hell? Clearly it is better to be blind and go to heaven than to see and go to hell.”
According to the Pharisees’ understanding, the man while still in the synagogue was righteous, but when he participated in breaking the Sabbath he had to be driven out. But perhaps Jesus’s response would be something like this: “What good is it to keep the rules if a person becomes less as a person?”
As John testifies throughout his Gospel, Jesus came to show us who God is. And what we see in the life of Jesus is the love and compassion of God. But if we think it’s our responsibility to get people to keep the Law but we fail to show them love and compassion, we don’t help them at all.
Jesus is saying in his conversation with the Pharisees that it is better to be compassionate than to be right. Jesus was compassionate. And even though he broke a sabbath law, he was obeying a more important law, which is to show compassion the helpless.
This is the sort of light Jesus is for us. He helps us see the true nature of righteousness.
Conclusion
The crowd that followed Jesus asking for more bread, and the man blind from birth represent every one of us.
Until we are willing to receive the life and light Jesus, we will carry on hungry and blind. We will wrongly and blindly go through this life grabbing hold of whatever we can to get us closer to what we think will finally satisfy.
Jesus is calling us to stop all the grasping. To lay down our miserable attempts to provide for ourselves and to let him satisfy our hunger and heal our blindness.
If you want to do this, then come to the table. You don’t need to work your way up to him, to set yourself right. He comes to you. He is already where you are.
Do I believe that Jesus is who he says he is?
Do I want Jesus to be the bread of my life?
Do I want to live with Jesus as my light?
If so, come.
- Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↩︎
- This section draws heavily on a sermon from Eugene Peterson called “I Am the Good Shepherd” which is published in As Kingfishers Catch Fire. ↩︎
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