I Am the bread of life - 6:35
I Am the light of the world - 8:12 & 9:5
I Am the gate for the sheep - 10:7-9
I Am the good shepherd - 10:11-14
I Am the resurrection and the life - 11:25
I Am the way and the truth and the life - 14:6
I Am the true vine - 15:1-5
Each of these "I Am" sayings reveal an aspect of the nature of Jesus. They emphatically reinforce the divinity of Christ through the use of the name that God used for Himself when He spoke to Moses. We read in the book of Exodus; God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent Me to you.’ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent Me to you.’“This is My name forever, the name you shall call Me from generation to generation (Exodus 3:14-15).
We also learn something of our relationship with Jesus through each of the 'I Am" statements. In this week's reading we learn that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Just as Jesus is intimately united to the Father, we are to be intimately united to Jesus if we expect to grow in our spiritual life.
The story is told of a native from a remote mountain village who had the opportunity to visit a large modern city for the first time. He could not bring much home with him, and he had little money. But he was amazed at the electric lights which he saw everywhere. So he bought a sack full of electric lights bulbs and sockets with switches so he could turn them off and on. Arriving home he hung the light bulbs in front of his home and on his trees. Everyone watched him with curiosity and asked him what he was doing, but he just smiled and said, "Just wait until dark--you'll see." When night came he turned on the switches, but nothing happened...
Our power, our joy and our salvation are dependent on our relationship with Jesus. We are to be "in Christ", united to His Sacred Heart, grafted into the vine! Otherwise, we become withering and dying branches; no fruit, no grape juice, no wine, no life, no light, no salvation. The beauty of our faith is that God gave us more than information and a name--He gave us Himself. He gave us more than rules and outward appearances. He gave us a relationship with Him. Colossians 2:10, "In Him you have been made complete." Only He can satisfy your deepest longing and bring order to your innermost being. In Jesus Christ, God's word became flesh. He is alive! Easter Blessings,
Father Mike