12 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58
“The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.” Three travellers appear in the shimmering noon, and the old man, who could have stayed in the shade, runs to meet them and bows to the ground: “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.” He offers “a little water” and “a little bread”, and then sets out a feast: cakes of the finest flour, a tender calf, curds and milk, and “he stood by them under the tree while they ate.” Abraham does not know at first whom he is serving; the Letter to the Hebrews remembers that “by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). The guests bring a promise: Sarah, long past the age of childbearing, will have a son. Listening behind the tent flap, Sarah laughs to herself. The LORD answers with the question that runs through the whole Bible: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?” Many Fathers saw in the three visitors, addressed as one Lord, a first hint of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and the Eastern Churches have painted this scene as the icon of the Trinity's hospitality. The second reading shows us another old man who did not settle into the shade. Caleb, one of the two spies who had trusted God forty-five years earlier, comes to Joshua at the age of eighty-five: “I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Moses sent me.” He does not ask for a quiet field but for the hill country where the strongest enemies lived, because “I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.” Age is no retirement from faith. Among us there are grandparents who still walk to the first Qurbana before dawn on every day of the Great Fast, and who carry the whole family in their prayer. They are our Calebs.
Paul gives the Romans one debt that can never be paid off: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Then he sounds a morning bell: “the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” In the summer of 386, in a garden in Milan, a brilliant young teacher of rhetoric named Augustine, weeping over the slavery of his own desires, heard a child's voice chanting “take up and read”. He opened the letters of Paul and his eyes fell on these very words: “let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” He wrote later in his Confessions that at that moment the light of certainty flooded his heart. In the Gospel Jesus speaks in the temple with hearers who are scandalised by his claims: “Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” They answer that Abraham died, and the prophets too. Jesus replies: “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” And then the words that sum up John's Gospel: “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” I AM is the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). Some of his hearers took up stones, and Jesus went out of the temple. When John writes of “the Jews” in such debates he is speaking of particular opponents of Jesus in that hour, not of the Jewish people, to whom Jesus, Mary and the apostles belonged; the Church firmly rejects any blame of the Jewish people for the rejection or the death of Christ. The question is put to every one of us: who do I say that he is? The One who sat at Abraham's table is the One who now calls us to his, and before whom every Friday of the fast we kneel at the foot of the Cross.
Theme: “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Abraham's hospitality at Mamre, Caleb's wholehearted old age, the armour of light, and the eternal Son who is the I AM.
“Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” Genesis 18:14
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2
Apply: Invite someone lonely to your table before Easter.
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10
“Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 13:14
Apply: Lay aside one work of darkness this week, and replace it with a work of love.
“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”” Exodus 3:14
“Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58
Apply: Pray the Way of the Cross today, and at each station adore Jesus as true God.
The God who visited Abraham is the Son who was before Abraham, and who comes to our table.
Welcome him in every guest, follow him wholeheartedly, and put him on like a garment of light.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Way of the Cross today, and invite someone lonely to your home before Easter.
Dear friends, in the heat of the day Abraham sees three strangers and runs to welcome them: my lord, do not pass by your servant (Genesis 18:3). He serves them a feast, and receives God's promise of a son. When Sarah laughs, the Lord asks: is anything too wonderful for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14).
Caleb, at eighty-five, says: I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Moses sent me, and asks for the hardest hill country, because he has wholeheartedly followed the Lord (Joshua 14:8–12). Faith does not retire.
Paul tells us: owe no one anything, except to love one another; the night is far gone, the day is near; put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:8, 12, 14). These were the words that converted St Augustine in a garden in Milan.
And Jesus says: very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58). He is God, the same who spoke to Moses from the bush. On this Friday of the fast, as we walk the Way of the Cross, let us kneel before him and say: my Lord and my God. Amen.
Children, Abraham ran to welcome three visitors and gave them food, and they were God's messengers! When we welcome people kindly, we welcome God. And Jesus tells us that he was alive even before Abraham, because he is God!
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the I AM, who was before Abraham and who sat at his table by the oaks of Mamre. Do not pass by your servants. Teach us to welcome you in every guest, to follow you wholeheartedly like Caleb even in old age, and to pay every day the debt of love. Clothe us with yourself, the armour of light, and on this Friday of the fast keep us close to your Cross, so that we may rejoice to see your day. Amen.
Four readings on this Friday of the Fast, and the thread that runs through them is God’s promise and those who live by it. At Mamre the Lord comes as a guest and promises a son to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Caleb at eighty-five asks for the hill country God promised him forty-five years before. Paul tells us that the night is far gone, so we are to put on Christ. And in the Temple Jesus says that Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and then: “before Abraham was, I am.” The one who promised and the one who was promised meet in that sentence.
Setting.
God has promised Abraham descendants (Genesis 12; 15; 17), and years have passed. Abraham is an old man and Sarah is past the age of bearing. Abraham has settled by the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron (13:18). Hospitality to a passing stranger was a sacred duty among the peoples of the desert and is still honoured there today. The narrator tells us at once that it is the Lord who appears, but Abraham sees only three men.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.” (18:2)
An old man, in the heat of the day, runs. Again and again in these verses he runs or hastens (vv. 2, 6, 7). He offers “a little bread” (v. 5), and then gives three measures of the best flour, a calf, curds and milk. His guests receive far more than he said.
“So Sarah laughed to herself,” (18:12)
She is not condemned for her laugh, though the Lord asks about it. God’s promise has met her long disappointment. Anyone who has stopped hoping will understand her.
“Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (18:14)
The angel gives the same answer to Mary: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). The story of the Bible’s old mother prepares for the story of its young one.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Abraham’s remarkable hospitality at Mamre foreshadows the annunciation of the true Son of the promise (CCC 2571). The Letter to the Hebrews has this scene in mind: “by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). The Fathers read the three guests in various ways. St Justin saw the Word of God in one of them (Dialogue with Trypho 56, in substance), and St Augustine saw a hint of the equality of the Trinity, since Abraham addresses three as one (On the Trinity 2, in substance). This reading of it is best known from the icon of St Andrei Rublev.
Setting.
The land is being divided among the tribes (Joshua 13–21). Forty-five years before, at Kadesh-barnea, twelve men went to spy out the land. Ten discouraged the people, and only Caleb and Joshua urged them on (Numbers 13–14). God then said: “my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly” will enter the land (Numbers 14:24). Caleb is called a Kenizzite (14:6), of a clan linked with Edom (Genesis 36:11), yet he stands among the leaders of Judah. Many scholars think that the book took shape long after the events and has a religious purpose in telling them; these matters remain under discussion.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“yet I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.” (14:8)
He says this without boasting, since he is claiming a word already given by God. Everyone else’s fear did not become his.
“I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Moses sent me;” (14:11)
Scripture sees this as the Lord’s gift: “The Lord gave Caleb strength, which remained with him in his old age” (Sirach 46:9). It is a word for older people in our parishes, whose faith often carries everyone else.
“So now give me this hill country” (14:12)
At eighty-five he does not ask for the easy valley. He asks for the place that frightened the others forty-five years earlier. For the Church’s reading, this is about the courage of faith. The conquest itself belongs to a violent age and is read in the light of Christ (see Dei Verbum 15).
How the Church reads it.
Sirach praises Caleb so that “all the Israelites might see how good it is to follow the Lord” (Sirach 46:10), and 1 Maccabees 2:56 recalls that he received his inheritance because he testified in the assembly. The Church finds in him the virtue of perseverance: the Catechism teaches that hope sustains us in the time of waiting and keeps us from discouragement (CCC 1818).
Setting.
Paul writes to Rome, probably from Corinth, around AD 57. From chapter 12 he has been drawing out how the mercies of God shape daily life. Just before this he has said to pay to all what is due, taxes included (13:7). That gives him the word for the next verse: owe no one anything, except love. Then he lifts his eyes from the debt to the clock: what time is it?
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another;” (13:8)
Other debts can be cleared. This one grows the more it is paid. St Paul’s line of thought does not abolish the law: the commandments he cites come from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, and their summary from Leviticus 19:18.
“the night is far gone, the day is near.” (13:12)
The picture is of the hour before dawn, when the sky begins to change. Christians have this hour as their home: already awake, and not yet in full day.
“Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (13:14)
These are the words that St Augustine read in the garden at Milan in 386, after hearing a child’s voice say “take and read”. He tells us in the Confessions (8.12) that he needed to read no further. “Flesh” in Paul is the self closed against God, and not the body as such.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes vv. 9–10 to say that the Ten Commandments must be understood in the light of the twofold commandment of love, which is the fullness of the law (CCC 2055). This does not make the commandments optional: love does no wrong to a neighbour, so the commandments show what love looks like. For the Great Fast, these verses are an invitation to do today what we keep putting off.
Setting.
Jesus is in the Temple around the feast of Tabernacles (7:2, 14). The argument of chapter 8 has been growing sharper since v. 31, when he spoke to those “who had believed in him”. In John, “the Jews” in scenes like this means those who are opposing him in this dispute, and above all the authorities. It does not mean a whole people: Jesus, his mother and his disciples are all Jews. The harsh language on both sides was familiar in disputes within one family of faith at that time, and the Church firmly teaches that no blame may be laid on the Jewish people (Nostra Aetate 4). Today’s first reading stands behind this one: Abraham has received the promise and rejoiced.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” (8:51)
His hearers take this as physical death, and they are right that Abraham died. He means the death that separates from God. His claim is that his word gives what only God can give.
“Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” (8:56)
John does not say when. Interpreters have proposed the birth of Isaac, the promise itself, or a vision given by God. What is certain is the claim: the whole hope of Israel was moving toward this day.
“Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” (8:58)
Not “I was”. St Augustine draws out the difference: Abraham came to be, as a creature; the Lord says “I am”, as God (Tractates on John 43, in substance). His hearers understand the claim, and they pick up stones because they take it as blasphemy (see Leviticus 24:16).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism lists this saying among those that only the divine identity of Jesus can explain (CCC 590). It also teaches that the Jewish people as a whole may not be held responsible for his death (CCC 597), and Christians are warned to look first at their own sins (CCC 598). As Hosanna Sunday draws near, the question of the reading is ours as well: “Who do you claim to be?”
Did Abraham really see Jesus?
The Gospel does not explain how. The Church reads the whole Old Testament as moving toward Christ (CCC 128–130). Abraham’s faith looked forward to what God had promised. Hebrews says of the patriarchs that “they saw and greeted” the promises “from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13). Jesus’ point is that the hope of Abraham has its goal in him, and that he is not simply one more figure in the line of Abraham.