"Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.' So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple." Jesus really pushes his opponents' button with these words. The "I am" Jesus speaks is used repeatedly in John's gospel to express Jesus' divinity. It picks up on the divine "I am" from Moses' encounter with Yahweh at the burning bush. (Sometimes this "I am" is hidden in English translations. See John 18:5-6 for an example where it translated "I am he.")
This echo of God's name on Jesus' lips is highly offensive to his opponents. The inflammatory nature of Jesus' words is probably lost on most of us, but we have our own "buttons" when it comes to faith. Once or twice I have had a youth at the church push my button by expressing some outrageous statement about church or God or Jesus. Sometimes I've been foolish enough to take the bait, and I've almost always regretted it. When people push my buttons and I feel compelled to defend God or the church or religion, I usually do the opposite of what I intend.
Sometimes my own faith, my own trust in God can be fragile enough that I feel the need to protect it against assault. The emotional level of my response is often more a measure of my own doubts and anxieties than anything else. I've never picked up a stone to throw at anyone, but I've felt like it. Somewhere, God is probably amused and sad at the same time.
A prayer that I find more opportunities for witnessing to God's love and less for defending it.
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