Jesus uses the divine name in the middle of a public argument and the crowd asks him who he is, which is exactly the point John is making.
Mar 24, 2026
The Gospel: John 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Today’s Focus
Jesus stands in the Temple and uses the divine name to describe himself. The crowd asks who he is. The answer had just been given and they missed it. That is the passage in a sentence. The inability to hear what Jesus is saying is not simply a failure of information. It is a failure of origin, those who belong to what is below cannot perceive what comes from above. Jesus then points to the cross as the moment when recognition will finally arrive. Many believe anyway, on the word alone, with no sign required. The word is enough for those who can receive it.
In the Margins
This passage continues the Temple confrontation during and after the Feast of Tabernacles that has been running since John 7. Jesus has already declared himself the light of the world (8:12), been challenged on his self-testimony (8:13), and defended his witness by appeal to the Father (8:18). The confrontation is intensifying with each exchange.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus’ statements are consistently misread in purely material terms: Nicodemus misreads being born again as physical birth, the Samaritan woman misreads living water as well water, the crowd misreads the bread of life as physical bread. Here they misread departure to the Father as suicide.
A phrase worth fully understanding is when Jesus says, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above,” hymeis ek tōn katō este, egō ek tōn anō eimi (ὑμεῖς ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἐστέ, ἐγὼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω εἰμί). The preposition ek means from or out of. This denotes origin. Jesus is not describing a moral hierarchy. He is describing a difference in origin and nature. The Pharisees originate from below, from the created order. Jesus originates from above, from the uncreated divine reality. Jesus clarifies this even more telling them that they belong to this world, while He does not. To belong to this world in John’s sense is to operate within a framework that cannot perceive or receive what comes from above. This is a statement about origin, allegiance, and perception.
When Jesus says “I AM,” is the absolute “I AM.” The sentence as Jesus constructs it is deliberately incomplete by Greek grammatical standards, which signals to any Greek reader that the completion is not a predicate but the divine name itself. This directly calls back to Exodus 3:14, where God tells Moses “I AM WHO I AM” and then shortens it to “ehyeh,” “I AM.” It occurs again in Isaiah 43:10, with God declaring “I AM.” The incomplete phrasing here is why the crowd would have followed this up with questioning who He was, not realizing He was making the ultimate statement of identity.
Jesus talks about being lifted up, which is directly foreshadowing His crucifixion. In this there is a double meaning from the Greek use, where it can mean to literally lift up or to exalt. It also draws on Numbers 21:8-9, where Moses “lifts up” a bronze serpent on a pole and all who look at it are healed. Jesus on the cross follows the same pattern, where He is lifted up and then exalted, bringing healing to all who look upon him in faith.
Not everyone believes when they hear Jesus make this declaration. This has come after countless miracles and a reputation of mercy and love. It should be no surprise that we will encounter non-believers everywhere we go. We see this time and time again throughout scriptures and it leaves us with a choice. As we spread the Gospel, we will encounter those who do not believe. When you try to spread the word of God, the devil is likely nearby. We cannot take this personally. If Jesus makes bold declarations, performs countless miracles and does not convince everyone, we should not expect to do better. Our goal should be focused on loving God and spreading the word as much as we can. When we do this, even if we cannot expect everyone to believe, we can pray that just as people believed with Jesus’ declaration, they will believe at hearing the word of the Lord.
Reflection Question
Is there something Jesus has said clearly that you have been hearing in purely material terms, missing what he is actually saying?
