A Lenten Word - I AM

Homily for Thursday of the Fifth Week in Lent

A Lenten Word – I AM

Lloyd Ogilvie wrote a book entitled “The Bush is still burning.” He describes the book as a devotional study of the “I AM” statements of Jesus. Chapter one of that book is devoted to the passage which we read today from the Gospel of St. John: “before Abraham was, I AM.” In the Christian Scriptures, St. John uses the name of God eighteen times. It is also used once in the Gospel of St. Mark and twice in the book of Revelation. Each time that it is used, while it is consistently the name that reveals who God is, it is also a look into the way Jesus intends its use.

Pastor Ogilvie spent a great deal of time with people who came to him to share their struggles. He asked each of them, “What do you feel is the deepest need in your life, and what can I do to help?”

One man responded, “during the past few weeks we’ve been talking about what to do with the struggles in my life. You’ve tried to tell me that God loves me, is for me, and has the power to help me in my struggles. That’s been difficult to hear because of what I’ve known about God from friends, my family background, and our culture. I’ve thought a lot about what you said and read the Bible verses about God’s power which you assigned to me – even memorized a few. Then, the other day, it hit me that the reason for my struggles is that I have had a wrong idea about God… My greatest need is to find this new God – not new in the sense that he never existed before, but new to me.

Most of the struggles we endure are the result of a profound misunderstanding of God’s real nature and of what God is ready and able to do in our lives. Most people have settled for a diminutive god of our own making. We need a new God for our old struggles. We need the true God who knows and cares and intervenes and acts, who is present and powerful, who makes things happen.

In fact, the translation of the Hebrew name that God reveals to Moses can be translated in numerous ways. For instance, the name of God can be translated: “I am the one who makes things happen.” This is the God that many of us need as we struggle through life. Throughout our day, let us dwell with the name of God and ask ourselves, “What is the deepest need of my life?” Then ask God, “What can you do to help?” God might just tell you.