Lent, Day 32

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” So the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

John 8:51-59

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Abraham’s Faith

Abraham’s beloved son Isaac, whom God redeemed with a ram on the altar of sacrifice, foreshadowed the Father’s only-begotten Son, who redeemed humankind on the altar of the Cross.¹

“How can Abraham have seen you?” Jesus’ interlocutors asked incredulously.² Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”³

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac…
He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead,
and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Hebrews 11:17-19

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References

¹ Genesis 22:1-18.

² John 8:57, according to early authoritative manuscripts; see the New American Bible (Revised Edition) footnote.

³ John 8:58.