John 8:25 Know me by my words

“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.”

John 8:25 NIV

Rotherham translates this verse [with notes]: They were saying to him therefore, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “First and foremost [at the outset, or fundamentally] even what I speak to you.” [or “What I speak, that I am: my speech reveals my person.”]

I Am What I Speak

Jesus’ identity is inextricably linked to his words. The mouth is the gateway to who he really is in his heart and soul. The words he speaks, when and how he speaks them — his expression— reflects his values.

But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.

Matthew 15:18

Death and life, are in the power of the tongue, and, its friends, shall eat its fruits.

Proverbs 18:21

From birth, Jesus reflected the continuity of connection and attachment to his Heavenly Father. He was nurtured by and oriented around not just the earth but also the unseen – heaven. His identity was intertwined with representing the Father, whose Spirit abided in him, just as Israel believed God was in their temple.

Man Becomes What He Hears

Unlike Jesus, my identity is in motion. From the outset, his was anchored in what the Father told him. For me, it is transforming from what it was before I acknowledged God (since I listened to other voices) to what it is now becoming (as I listen to His Holy Spirit). It’s growing. My heart is the arena where good and evil fight battle for loyalty and where I determine whether I will reflect a man of earth or a man of heaven.

What Jesus Heard, He Spoke

“So, who are you, Jesus?” the Pharisees ask. His reply is reminiscent of God’s words to Moses in the Book of Exodus, “I am… what I speak.” He later clarifies where his words came from: “The things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” Again, in verse 28, “I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me.” The words He hears, receives, and expresses define Him.

Jesus, the man of earth, is also the man of heaven. The perfect mix, intersection, nexus, between the two environments.

In his fellowship with His Father, Jesus heard Him affirm who he is, where he came from, and where he was going. Just like any comfortable conversation that one has with someone he loves deeply, communication flows freely and openly. What God spoke to him, he valued and became. He was the living representation of a man who without reservation accepted every word God spoke about him and he became the same. By listening, valuing God’s words, and loving and wanting to please his Father, he became the very image, the exact representation of the heart and character of the Father on earth.  In other words: He had attachment* with his parent. The relational bond that connects two. If God (who is spirit) could become flesh… this is what God in the flesh would look like.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God… The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1, 14 NIV

Claiming an identity based entirely on what is spoken is unusual. Today, my words may not fully align with my behavior. Yet, this is precisely what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees. He was 100% authentic, with no gap between His words and actions.

Skepticism is Required, Until It Isn’t

If I put myself in the Pharisees’ sandals, I must question Jesus’ character, motive, and message. Is He self-serving? Coercive? The Jewish concept of the Messiah was filled with stereotypes and fantasies about power, domination, subjugation of the enemy, the glory of Israel restored — and the topic of the messiah’s character was probably not something pondered upon frequently, if at all. “He is an Israelite just like us.” Jesus, however, appeared as the antitype of everything they hoped for, embracing humility and integrity rather than conquest.

If they were honest, they would acknowledge that everything they heard from Jesus pointed them to the kingdom, redemption, repentance, healing, and freedom. But the Messiah? That was a claim they couldn’t reconcile with their personal grid.

The lessons here are many. The most impactful is the privilege of being a son, hearing my Father’s word about me, and becoming what He speaks to me. Words are powerful, and what He says about me is so incredible that I understand why I wrestle with believing it.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

Revelation 3:12 (NASB)

Who Jesus said he was

The following are a few examples of what Jesus’ publicly said about himself — words that his disciples could reconcile with what he claimed in this verse.

The woman saith unto him–I know that, Messiah, cometh, who is called Christ,–Whensoever, he, shall come, he will tell us, everything. Jesus saith unto her–I, that speak unto thee, am he.

John 4:24-25

I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.

John 6:35

I am the light of the world: He that follows me shall in nowise walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:12

I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:9

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

John 10:11

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26

Jesus saith unto him–I, am the way, and the truth, and the life: No one, cometh unto the Father, but through me.

John 14:5

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every one that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:1-2

Notes

* Attachment

In their book Hold on to Your Kids, psychologists Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Máte identify attachment as:

1) Senses: Physical proximity to each other

2) Sameness: The desire to be like the other, imitate them

3) Belonging and Loyalty: The sense of belonging to someone and a fierce loyalty toward them

4) Significance: Becoming important to the other

5) Feeling: The complex cement of emotion which embeds the feelings of significance and attachment

6) Being known: finally, being understood for who I am, just as I am.

From Chapter 1: For a child to be open to being parented by an adult, he must be actively attaching to that adult, be wanting contact and closeness with him. At the beginning of life this drive to attach is quite physical in nature—the infant literally clings to the parent and needs to be held. If everything unfolds according to design, the attachment will evolve into an emotional closeness and finally a sense of psychological intimacy. Children who lack this kind of connection with those responsible for them are very difficult to parent or, often, even to teach. Only the attachment relationship can provide the proper context for child rearing.

The secret of parenting is not in what a parent does but rather who the parent is to a child. When a child seeks contact and closeness with us, we become empowered as a nurturer, a comforter, a guide, a model, a teacher or a coach.  For a child well attached to us, we are her home base from which to venture into the world, her retreat to fall back to, her fountainhead of inspiration. All the parenting skills in the world cannot compensate for a lack of attachment relationship. All the love in world cannot get through without the psychological umbilical cord created by the child’s attachment.

Also described here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2169321/