Gospel: April 10, 2025
April 10, 2025 (Thursday)
5th Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 1 / (Violet)
Ps 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
The Lord remembers his covenant forever
1st Reading: Genesis 17:3-9
Abram fell face down and God said to him, “This is my Covenant with you: you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you; kings shall be among your descendants.
And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting Covenant between myself and you and your descendants after you; from now on I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be the God of your race.” God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.
Gospel: John 8:51-59
Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never experience death.” The Jews replied, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, but you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never experience death.’ Who do you claim to be? Do you claim to be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets who also died?” Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise myself, it would count for nothing.
But he who gives glory to me is the Father, the very one you claim as your God, although you don’t know him. I know him, and if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word. As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come; and he rejoiced when he saw it.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” And Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” They then picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple.
Reflection
“Before Abraham was, I am.”
Scholars have struggled with Abraham’s change of name for centuries. Some studies point to a Babylonian root to his name from the Akkadian language, which implies that, rather than trying to make Abraham mean father of a multitude, his name would have changed from beloved father to exalted father. Thus, the sentence would run, “No longer will you be called Beloved Father, but Exalted Father, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.”
However, whatever the name change literally means, it signifies a promise on the part of God; a promise, or a covenant, that unites God to Abraham and his descendants for ever. Yet, in the Gospel, Jesus causes outrage because he seems to be claiming to be more exalted than Abraham, that he existed before him and knows him. “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” They wonder how this can possibly be. Jesus gives the answer: he is God himself. “Before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus is using “I am” not simply to signify existence, but divinity, since I AM is the name of God (Ex 3:14). God is making a new covenant in Jesus, God and Man.
