November 8, 2015: I Am Life – Michael Hidalgo

In the midst of Jesus’ famous “I am” statements comes possibly the most profound and the most nebulous statement yet. Jesus doesn’t simply coopt a picture in our lives for his purposes (ie: a gate, a good shepherd…), but he coopts life itself, life as we know it, in order to point us towards a different understanding of our relationship with God, others and ourselves that would leave no part of us untouched. 

Jesus arrives at his friends’ house to discover Lazarus is dead. Death brings with it confusion and debate about the nature and purpose of life. Martha tries to find words for faith in the midst of one of the great debates of her day: Is there life after death or not? For her in the moment, it seems like the answer is “no.” Everything she has experienced tells her “no.” The best she seems to be able to believe for is prevention, “If you had been here…” or an ethereal eventuality, “I believe he’ll rise on the last day.” But Jesus’ statement to her is different. In not so many words he says, “I am what you are scared to even hope for. I am the resurrection strong and creative enough to use the very materials of death to make life; I am the life that makes the life you live worthy of the name ‘life’.” 

Besides putting his two cents in on a very heated resurrection debate, he makes the absolutely massive claim that when walking with him we come to see that life is everywhere.