Jesus goes through this back and forth banter with the Pharisees about where He's from, where they're from, who's my daddy, who's your daddy, ... Well, just in case there was any confusion, Jesus is the Son of God (the Father), and Jesus is "I AM".
8:54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 57"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
And just in case you think Jesus is just talking bunch of smack, He proves who He is by healing (on the Sabbath, no less) a man that was blind from birth:
9:24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" 26Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" 28Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." 30The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
I certainly don't claim to understand how God works, but as the healed blind man demonstrated, "It's not about what I know, it's about Who I know."
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I trust that Jesus Christ is your Only Begotten Son and that He is I AM as You Are. God, please help me not get so caught up in what people think, fancy arguments, and rebuttals. Please help me simply show people that I was once spiritually blind, but now I see. I was once lost, but now I am found. May other see in me the joy, hope, peace, light, life, and love of the One True God. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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