Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I am he*,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! John 18:4-6 (NLT)
*Or “The ‘I am’ is here”; or “I am the Lord”; Greek reads I am; also in 18:6, 8. See Exod 3:14.
When Moses ran into God in the wilderness and God said "I am sending you to Egypt." Moses argued. Can't say I blame him. This was totally out of the ordinary. It didn't look like what he was used to. It was bigger than where his mind could take him.
We might be tempted, like Moses, to say "God, this is too hard. I can't do that. I don't have what it takes. That's a different spiritual gift than I have." And my guess is all these things were popping around in Moses' head....well, except the spiritual gift thing....that's a new excuse for us but he basically said the same thing when he said "I am just a shepherd." What came out of his mouth though was "They will ask me your name. Who should I say sent me?"
And what did God say? He said "I AM."
Many centuries pass and the same thing happens again. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and the mob is looking for him to arrest him. They ask "Which one of you is Jesus of Nazareth?." Except, unlike Moses, Jesus doesn't offer excuses. He knows who he is and he says "I AM"
Do you know Jesus is saying the same thing to us today.....every single time we cry out to him?
Lord, I can't walk through another day of pain. I AM
Lord, we need help with our finances. I AM
Jesus, I feel so lonely. I need more to my life. I AM
Please, please help my children. I AM
I don't know what to do next. I AM
In those words, Jesus offered the solution to everything we will ever need. He offered himself. He knew that no matter how big the task seemed, no matter how hopeless it looked, he was enough. He knew that because of those words we would be able to take another step. With just those two small syllables we could be brave.
Jesus knew we could walk one more day with assurance that no matter what was happening, we would be OK because not only was he the great I AM, HE STILL IS.