Christological Identity of Jesus in connection to the Father and in reference to Abraham, Father of Many – Thursday of the 5th Week of Lent (A)

Those who wished to get rid of Jesus were unable to understand Jesus' Christological identity because of their pride to be children of Abraham.
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Today’s Scripture readings (Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-19) put a spotlight on Abraham. Of course, not just Abraham alone but Abraham in connection to Jesus, as the Gospel readings from yesterday (John 8:31-42) and of today (Genesis 8:51-19) address Abraham in Jesus’ ongoing Christological argument with those in darkness of sin and wishing to kill him.

Those who wanted to arrest and kill Jesus were blind to see the truth in him because of their sin, and the truth they failed to see in Jesus is the gist of his Christological argument, which started upon healing a man by the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem on a Sabbath day (John 5), carried out even upon miraculously feeding the great multitude in Galilee as the Bread of Life discourse (John 6), and again in Jerusalem, intensified upon Jesus’ teaching for the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)(John 7, 8). The argument went on and on, and again more intensified upon Jesus healing a man born blind (John 9), leading to his Good Shepherd Discourse (John 10:1-21). What this unfolding argument resulted was a growing division between those who came to believe and those who stubbornly remain in unbelief (cf. John 10:19-21). The former were beginning to see the light and the truth: Christ in Jesus, while the latter kept themselves as slaves to sins and in the darkness of ignorance, as they remained blind. It was the latter group that had been trying to kill Jesus ever, at last, since his healing act to a sick man by the Bethesda pool in John 5.

The division between those who believed and those who not, remained and the argument further went on even upon the feast of Dedication, which is also known as Chanukah (John 10:22-42), before Jesus came to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44), further intensified the intention to kill Jesus among those who kept themselves in darkness and slavery of sin, as his time to be glorified on the Cross drew nearer (John 11:45-57), before being anointed by Mary, a sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, while served by Martha, another sister of Lazarus, 6 days before his death on Passover (John 12:1-11, n.b. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, died as Passover sacrificial lamb in John’s Gospel, while the Synoptic Gospels put the death of Jesus on a day following Passover, as the Last Supper was Passover Seder dinner).

With this extended context of today’s Gospel reading (John 8:51-59) in connection to Holy Week, which is next week, what we see is that those who remain darkness, trying to kill Jesus, were accusing him as “demon-possessed” (John 8:52, cf John 7:20, 8:48, 10:20), in their response to Jesus’ Christological argument. In connection to yesterday’s Gospel reading (John 8:31-42), they only saw Jesus as demon-possesed, because of their blind self-identification as the descendants of Abraham (John 7:33) contributed to their failure to see the Father, whom Jesus was speaking, also as the Father before “father Abraham”. Jesus was speaking of his Father in heaven, who sent him to this world to renew and consummate all the covenants He made with “father Abraham”. And today’s first reading (Genesis 17:3-9) gives a glimpse into this truth about Abraham and the Father, whom Jesus was speaking about and whom he is obedient to in his words and deeds.

Given the narratives of John 8:31-59, including both yesterday’s and today’s Gospel readings, it seems that the inability to see Christ, as the Son of the Father, in Jesus, resulting in their stumbling block to believe, of those who stubbornly accuse Jesus stemmed from their blind obsessive belief on Abraham. Psychologically, their pride in their connection to Abraham was a major contributor to this problem. The pride made them blind to see the truth Jesus had been explaining to them. Because of this blindness, the truth that Jesus was speaking only irritated them to increase their desire to kill Jesus. Ah, the pathology of pride that blocks and blinds us to the salvific truth in Jesus and in his relationship with the Father, as well as with Abraham.

No, today’s first reading (Genesis 17:3-9) does not say anything about how Abraham is related to Jesus. At least, not in the manner of Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-34). Rather, the reading tells how the Father, whom Jesus was speaking of in connection to him, also relates to Abraham through His covenant with him. In fact, today’s first reading is drawn from the third covenant that God the Father made with Abraham, following the first (Genesis 12:2-3) and the second (Genesis 15:1-21) covenants.

In this third covenant that God made with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-27), from which today’s first reading (vv. 3-9 is drawn, it is noteworthy to know that God changed the name of Abraham: from Abram to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). God did this name change to bring His beatified covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15:4-5), promising Abram to be blessed with offspring as many as stars. The name, “Abram”, means “exalted father”, like God the Father Himself, reflected in the first covenant, in which God promised to make him great (Genesis 12:2-3). But, now, by changing his name to “Abraham”, God was getting ready to bless Abraham with Isaac and his offspring by making Sarah pregnant (Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7), after giving Ishmael through Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant, Hager (Genesis 16), as “Abraham” means “father of many children”. That is why God said to Abram in this third covenant to him, “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings will stem from you. I will maintain my covenant between me and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you”(Genesis 17:5-7), while renewing his first covenant (Genesis 12:2-3) and the second one (Genesis 15:1-21). And, this third covenant with Abraham, God’s promise of making “Abram”(exalted father) into  “Abraham”(not only exalted father but father of many descendants) is also the covenant of circumcision of every male child (Genesis 17:10-27). The circumcision is a mark of being a son of Abraham, who is a father of many.

Those who argue against Jesus in today’s Gospel reading (John 8:51-19) and in yesterday’s Gospel reading (John 8:31-42) were so proud to be children of Abraham, but rejecting Jesus as the Son of God the Father, who blessed and made series of covenants with Abraham. While Jesus’ Christological argument on him increasingly irritated them only to grow in their murderous desire for him, Jesus himself must have been increasingly frustrated with their utter ignorance not only of who he really was but Abraham’s covenant relation with the same Father that Jesus was speaking to them as who he was.

Like God’s Annunciation to Mary to take an integral part in His salvation scheme as the mother of His Son (Luke 1:26-38), out of the blue, God called Abraham (Abram, then) leave his place for the land that God would show (Genesis 12:1) and made His first covenant with him (Genesis 12:2-3). The covenant is sevenfold: 1. God will make Abraham a great nation, 2. God will bless Abraham, 3. God will make Abraham’s name great, 4. Abraham will be a blessing, 5. God will bless those who bless Abraham, 6. God will curse whoever curse Abraham, 7. All peoples on earth will be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3). This original covenant of God with Abraham means that God recommits Himself to His original blessing of humans when He created us in His image (Genesis 1:27-28) after saving Noah and his family (Genesis 6:1-9:17). And elements of this seven-fold covenant with Abraham were reaffirmed with him: Genesis 15:5-21; 17:4-8;18:18-19; 22:17-18), with Isaac (Genesis 26:2-4), to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15; 35:11-12; 46:3). It also impacted beyond his direct lineage, as it was also reflected in His covenant with Moses to appoint him to deliver Israelites out of the suffering of slavery in Egypt (Exodus 3:6-10, 6:2-8).

God chose Abraham and established the seven-fold initial covenant with him to reactivate and renew His grand salvific scheme when humans (Noah’s descendants) were once again falling into sins, including sin of ingratitude and oblivion to God. Idol worship was common, then. Even Abraham’s own family was into idol worship. Thus, God’s call to Abraham and establishing the initial seven-fold covenant (Genesis 12:1-3) meant a new beginning to appoint him as the forefather in God’s evolving salvation scheme, which also called Mary to bring God’s Son to this world as Christ in the human flesh of Jesus, as Immanuel, in order to have the Son live among us. It is also to make it clear that God, who Created and who will save is One God. Thus, through His initial covenant with Abraham, God made it clear that our religion, now known as the Abrahamic religion, is monotheistic. And, this is the shared foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Abraham is at a root of these three monotheistic religions of the world, stemming from God’s call on him and his initial covenant with him (Genesis 12:1-3). In this first covenant, God promised to make Abraham great, as He had exalted him, calling Abram (exalted father), reflecting Him. God the Father must have projected His own image in Abram in Genesis 12:1-3. And, God the Father, whom Jesus had been speaking in his Christological identity in John 8:31-41, 51-59, glorifies Jesus, the Son (John 8:54). Though God the Father may have seen His own image in Abram as exalted father, Jesus, the Son, is one with Him (cf. John 10:30; 14:20), as he says of himself, “I AM” (John 8:58), as God the Father did to Moses: Yahweh:I AM THAT I AM (Exodus 3:14-15). Furthermore, Jesus also revealed the fact that he pre-existed Abraham was born (John 8:58), in response to the ignorant accusers making fun of him, saying, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”(John 8:57). This also reminds of the pre-existence of Christ before the Creation as Chokmah (Wisdom) (Proverbs 8:22-31) and as Logos (Word) (John 1:1), as also reflected in the Nicene Creed (“born of the Father before all ages”).

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Now, Holy Week is the next week. Toward the end of the Holy Week, Jesus is glorified (John 8:54, 16:14, 17:1, 5) and lifted up (John 3:14, 8:28).  On our Lenten journey, we have come this far and closer to witness the Christological truth in Jesus during Holy Week and beyond. Is our vision to see Jesus clear now? Or, are we not able to see, as those who continue to argue against Jesus, even evoking the name of Abraham?