The Great I Am

There is nothing quite like finding a new insight into a well-known biblical passage.  When this happens, a new enthusiasm for scripture energizes me.  I am embarrassed to admit I have skimmed scripture too quickly, especially when it is familiar to me, as was the case this past week with the Christmas story in Luke.

Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem to be registered.  Yup.

Mary gives birth to Jesus.  Mm-hmm.

Mary wraps Jesus up in swaddling cloths. Sure did.

Jesus is placed in a manger. 

Wait a second…

Slow down.

What did that say?  “…She laid Him in a manger.”

 God put His precious son in a feeding trough?  He could have placed Him anywhere. Why there? I had overlooked this detail for far too long.  Was there a deeper significance to God’s barnyard cradle?

 And while ruminating over my newly raised question, something Jesus said about Himself came to my mind. He said, “I am the bread of life.” This was His first I am statement recorded in the book of John.

 So, at His birth, Jesus was placed in a feeding trough only later to declare Himself to be food. Jesus’ mission for coming into our world was foreshadowed in God’s choice of a manger. If mankind would by faith “feed upon Him” (take Him in like animals do food) He would satisfy our hunger and give us eternal life.  New symbolism leapt off the page.  An unnoticed detail now discovered.

 Then I thought to myself, what about the other “I am” statements? Are they also symbolically connected to the narrative of Christ’s arrival on earth? I turned to the book of John and was astonished by what I found. The second “I am” statement Jesus made in John 8:12 is, “I am the light of the world.” 

 After Mary placed Jesus in the manger, an angel of the Lord appeared to some of the shepherds near Bethlehem. Luke 2:9 says, “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.”  The dark sky lit up with bright light from the shining presence of the angel and then “good tidings” (which literally means “to share the gospel”) were proclaimed to the shepherds. An angel, surrounded with light announced that the “Light of the World” had arrived.   

 The next two “I am” statements follow right along with the events of the Christmas story.  Jesus called himself “the door” and “the good shepherd” in John 10.  After the angel returned to heaven, the shepherds went immediately and found Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.  The shepherds entered through a doorway and found the Lamb of God.

 The fifth “I am” statement Jesus made was, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The shepherds were told they would find the Savior wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. It is intriguing that at Jesus’ birth He was wrapped in “swaddling cloths” and at his death, He was wrapped in strips of linen cloth. He entered and exited our world wound in fabric.  However, the cloths that were meant to bind Him, could not contain Him!  He left the cloths of this world behind in His empty tomb signaling to the world He had resurrected to life.

 The sixth “I am” statement (John 14:6) says, “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life.”

At a much later time, perhaps as many as two years after the birth of Jesus, wise men followed a star that led them to the young boy.  By faith they believed Him to be the King of the Jews.  The star pointed the way…to the One who called Himself “The Way.”  During Christ’s ministry many would do the same, they would search for truth and find life.  All manner of mankind would search. The rich, the poor, the broken, the hurting, and the humble. But only some would find The Way, The Truth and The Life.

 The final “I am” statement was probably the toughest to connect to the Christmas chronicle. But with some help from Stacy, together we found a connection. 

 John 15:1, Jesus states, “I am the vine.” We know an umbilical cord connects a child to its mother, just like a vine connects to branches.  Christ’s umbilical cord made Him human.  Physical blood was supplied to Jesus through Mary in utero.  That blood would be essential to make Jesus fully God yet fully man. And that same blood was required as the atonement for mankind’s sin.

 Christ said that if we abide in Him, He would abide in us.  Emmanual, God with us.  He entered the world inside Mary so that by faith He could live inside all of us. Now we can be attached to Him, The Vine.

 After writing this devotional, while washing dishes, one of my favorite Christmas songs came began playing through my phone. As I listened, the last few lines of the song caught my attention.  These are the lyrics to the last lines of “Mary Did You Know?”

[Mary did you know] “that your baby boy was heaven’s perfect Lamb?

The sleeping Child your holding, is ‘The Great I Am.’” 

He certainly is.

 Could we determine that we will slow down long enough to appreciate the details this Christmas?  In the hustle and bustle, let’s stop long enough to look for God to show us something new about Himself.  Let’s ask Him to meet us in the hectic pace of this season. Let’s reflect and see the wonder and ponder the astonishing events that brought the Great I Am to us.