January 18, 2026 – Second Sunday of Epiphany
Exodus 33.7-11
Matthew 5.13-16
Selections from John
Second Person Singular
Second Sunday of Epiphany
Our second reading from the New Testament this morning is a collection of Jesus’ sayings that all begin with the words, “I am.” Biblical scholars have a technical term for this collection: they call them, the “I am sayings of Jesus.” Here are just a few.
- Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
- I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
- Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate – whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find good pasture.
- I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
- I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me even though they die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
- I am the way the truth and the life; whoever comes to God comes through me.
- I am the vine, you are the branches; whoever lives in me and I in them will bear much fruit.
These are but a handful of the eighty five times we find the phrase “I am,” in John’s gospel, and they are rich metaphors Jesus uses to describe himself. The vine sends out branches; the light illuminates; the shepherd gathers together; the resurrection lifts us to God; and the bread feeds the body and soul. There are more, but these are just some of the things Jesus does for us, and they draw a vivid portrait of his life and work.
There is another, deeper level to these words as well, because Jesus repeated use of the phrase “I am” also brings to mind one of the most fundamental names for God in the Hebrew scriptures.
“Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, I am who I am’ God said further, This is what you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
“I am” in Hebrew, has variously been translated, Yahweh, or Jehovah, but any Jew listening to Jesus speak would have recognized what Jesus was saying; every time he said, “I am,” he was not just talking about himself, but about who God is as well. “Before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus is the voice of God, speaking in the first person singular. Jesus is the face of God, turned to humanity.
I performed a wedding yesterday afternoon of two people from different chapters in my life. Earle is a fellow musician, and Eve’s first marriage more than forty years ago was to my best friend’s brother. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I do a fair amount of couples counseling, some with couples who are preparing for marriage, and some with couples who are going through a rough patch in their relationship and want some perspective. Fairly often I find that one of the needs the relationship is looking for is the need for better communication. Early on in my counselling career I learned a compelling fact: men and women speak two different languages. Men speak Man, and women speak…. well, as Debbie will tell you, I’m still trying to figure out what women speak. But there is one surprisingly simple way of coming to an understanding: I tell couples to try always to speak in the first person. Use “I” statements. Nothing turns up the heat and escalates an already perilous conversation more than saying to somebody else, “You! You never (do this)” or, “You always (say that).” It is much more helpful – and more genuine, more authentic – to say things like, “I feel…” or “I’m hearing….” And it takes practice. I’ve been with couples who’ve sat right there in my office and argued with each other, and even with gentle coaching, it is difficult for them to move from the accusative “You” to the more self-reflective “I.” But one of the things we do is to try to recast the exact same conversation, moving from the “You always/you never” to the “I sometimes feel,” and you can just feel the pressure being released. Now with Earle and Eve yesterday, I had no need to share this lesson with them. Not only have they been together for more than twenty years, the groom is 79 and the bride is 69, and it is far more likely they have lessons they can teach me about sustaining a healthy lasting relationship.
And it is not true of just couples. It is true of churches as well. You may have read in the latest newsletter that our Pastoral Relations Committee is ramping back up – we’re meeting after church today. And one of the keys to a healthy pastor-parish relationship – and by the way, I think you and I have a good one – is to use those same “I” statements that are so constructive in interpersonal relationships. We know it is seldom helpful to pass along something we’ve heard second- or third-hand, or to share information by saying, “People are saying…” This is one of those many places where our congregation deserves a pat on the back and a “job well done,” because we know how to talk to each other constructively and faithfully. To speak in the first person is to take responsibility for the care and feeding of a relationship, whether it is with the one we love or with the people around us in the pews.
I think this is part of what Jesus is doing in John. He manufactures a multiplicity of metaphors to draw us into relationship with him, a personal relationship laced with “I”s. He is inviting us somehow, in some way, to connect with him, to get personal about our faith. It’s easy to talk about Jesus in the third person, to say he was a gifted teacher, a good example, a worker of miracles, an insightful prophet, a merciful savior – that’s the safe way to a relationship. But all this “I” talk is meant to make it personal. It opens a door to Jesus opening a door to each of us. And because Jesus is true to the relationship by making all those “I” statements, it invites us – me – to do the same. It gives me room to consider, who is Jesus to me? He is the one who calls me by my name. He is the one who both encourages me and disturbs me, reminding me to ask myself if I am being faithful to my calling. He opens unexpected windows and doors for me, windows into my own soul and doors into people’s lives every day of the week. He graces me with success and compels me to learn from failure. He challenges me – and all of us – in these days to find new ways of being courageously faithful, to respond to hate and hurt with love and compassion. He is the face of God to me, and he helps me see the face of God in each of you. He makes it personal – he calls me by name. How does Jesus make it personal for you?
Now there are times when “you” works better than “I.” Harry was a dear friend of ours who learned in his late-seventies that he had an inoperable form of cancer. He took palliative treatment, but knew it was only a matter of time, and he faced the inevitable with a graciousness and optimism that most of us could hope to achieve when our time comes. I will always remember his final weeks, Harry sitting up in the hospital bed set up in his den, making each visitor believe they were the rightful focus of attention rather than he. In the moment you were visiting the visibly dying Harry, he still managed to make that moment all about you. And he saved the best for his dear wife Jane. Every day he would greet her, multiple times a day, with, “You look beautiful today, dear.” You look beautiful today, dear. For in as much discomfort as Harry found himself, and knowing it would not be long, he would always find something kind and positive to say to Jane. You look beautiful today, dear.
This is the kind of “you,” the affectionate, affirming, constructive and engaging second person singular, that builds people and builds relationships that are healthy. This is the kind of “you” Jesus used repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the light of the world… you are the salt of the earth… you are the city on the hill…” You can do this, Jesus was saying, I believe in you! “Let your light shine before everyone, so everyone can see your good works and give glory to God in heaven!”
Reading from Exodus this morning, Pat described for us the face-to-face meeting between God and Moses. It has all the elements of a Cecil B. DeMille epic: the crowd of people, the hush of anticipation, the pillar of cloud… But then the atmosphere shifts from one of glory and grandeur to one of familiarity and intimacy: “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a person speaks to a friend.” As a person speaks to a friend. As you and I speak to each other. As lovers speak to one another sometimes effortlessly. As you and I chat over coffee downstairs: as a person speaks to a friend. To me, this is not just a picture of God speaking to Moses, it is the way God speaks to all of us through the person of Jesus. Jesus is God speaking to us in a language we can understand. Jesus is God’s second person singular, the “I am” speaking the “You are” of blessing and encouragement.
Between the I and the you – or as German philosopher Martin Buber put it, between the I and the thou, is the relationship, the personal relationship. When it comes down to it, ours is a personal faith – we believe and embrace Jesus, who is the face of God turned toward us. And we find ourselves embraced by him as well. To be able to hear the divine God through the human voice of Jesus as it whispers your name and says Jesus loves you – and you – and you.
Between the I am and the You are is the personal relationship. In the gospel of John Jesus said, I am: I am the God who created you, I am the one who gathers you together and helps you grow, I am the one who lights your way through the world, and gives you everything you need for the journey. And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, you are: you are ready for all of this, you can do this, I believe in you, now go out there and get it done, because you know the world has need of you, and you have everything you need. Because God is, we are; and because Jesus did, we can.