+(Intro) In our opening prayer this morning, we ask the Lord to look kindly on those who place their hope in his mercy. So let us acknowledge our sins, confident in God’s great mercy.
(After the gospel) Jesus and those to whom he is speaking are talking on two different levels. Jesus is clearly showing them there is a fuller life after our brief journey on this earth and isn’t this what we all struggle with as did the Jews of his time.
Jesus is constantly living in the presence of his heavenly Father, inviting us to open ourselves to a whole new world toward which our brief stay on earth is but a preparation. As Jesus tells them: “Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.. Before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
We are invited each day to live in this loving presence, to know and experience a Father who is from all eternity so let us ask our loving Lord Jesus to strengthen our faith, hope and love.
Gen 17:3-9; John 8:51-59