"I am"

 

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - Link HERE

5th Sunday of Lent 2026

Dear friends, here's my little reflection for Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, the resurrection and the life. Jesus spent a lot of His time with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. You might say it was His second home.

When Jesus arrived there four days after the death of His friend Lazarus, it was hard for those two sisters to find words to speak. Initially, Mary just stayed in the house. Only Martha came to Him, at first voicing that anger which is so often an expression of grief.

"If you had been here, my brother would not have died". Once her grief-fuelled anger has come out, Martha remembers that she knows more about Jesus than that. "I know", she says, "that even now, whatever you ask of God, He will grant you".

And Jesus replies, "I am the resurrection. Do you believe this?" Martha's faith floods back. "You are the Christ, the Son of God".

And then Jesus calls Lazarus out of his grave, back to life and returns him to his sisters. You will not be surprised if I look back now to the Old Testament. I mostly do, I know.

If you look at the book of Exodus, the third chapter, we learn that when Moses asked the Lord God, "if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is His name? What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I am who I am". Those words, "I am", are repeated by Jesus in John's Gospel again and again. 

"I am the bread of life. I am the living bread from heaven. I am the light of the world. I am the gate of the sheepfold. I am the good shepherd. I am one with the Father. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the true vine". 

It's not long now till Good Friday.

When the Passion is being read on Good Friday, listen out for Jesus saying, "I am", three times in succession during His arrest. The significance of that was not lost on the arresting officers. John tells us that they drew back and fell to the ground.

Every time Jesus describes Himself as, "I am", He is clearly claiming that He is God. His opponents understood this very well. They hated Him for it.

When Jesus told them before Abraham ever was, "I am", they thought He was blaspheming. No man could speak of Himself as God. He was a madman, a bad man, or God incarnate.

There are still many people who struggle with the identity of Jesus and would dismiss Him as being delusional or an imposter. That's where we're so blessed, dear friends, that we have been given the gift of faith. And we should never forget that faith is a gift of God.

We don't deserve it. We haven't worked to attain it, nor have we in any way earned it. And through that precious gift, we are able to hear Jesus use that divine expression, "I am".

And like Saint Peter declared, "you are the Christ, the son of the living God", or like Saint Thomas said, "my Lord and my God". We Christians, God's people of the new covenant, are able to see in Jesus Christ the face of God. Our God is not remote, unapproachable, dangerous, unknowable, and one whose name must not even be breathed.

Jesus has taught us that God does have names which He loves us to use. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And the New Testament tells us this clearly.

We find in the epistles of the Romans, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And in the Acts of the Apostles, it will come to be that everyone will call on the name of the Lord. We even find this in the Old Testament, among the prophecies of Joel.

That's in the second chapter of Joel, by the way. Jesus speaks to us of a God who is not all mystery. Those with faith can begin to have an understanding of the nature of God, even though our knowledge in this life must remain imperfect.

When Jesus speaks as God, He always accompanies it with an image which we can understand. The sower in his field, the shepherd with his flock, the path to Heaven, the vine trunk feeding its branches, He is light, truth, resurrection, and life. A problem which our Lenten penances can cause to the unwary soul is that it all becomes a matter of thinking about oneself.

What am I doing without? What extra am I trying to do? What sins I have committed? And although self-knowledge is important, knowledge of Jesus is even more so. It's not enough just to know about Jesus. We need to know Jesus like Saint Thomas.

We have to come to know Him as "my Lord, my God, my Jesus". So for the rest of this Lent, please try to forget about yourself a little more and concentrate on Jesus alone. All your worries, all your concerns, all your fears will be resolved by Him alone.

All of your needs, He alone can supply. Each time you begin to pray, pause, remember that you are in His presence, the presence of God. Try to recall your wandering mind as far as you can.

Try to be present to Him too. Listen to Him ask you, "do you believe?" And let Martha's faithful response be yours too.

Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Amen. 

God bless you all and do please, please remember me in your prayers.