Dwelling with God
Gospel Reflection for Wednesday April 9th, 2025
“I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.” John 8:38
Today’s Gospel is from the eighth chapter of St. John’s Gospel which presents Our Lord in dialogue with both the Jewish believers and the Pharisees. This chapter culminates with the great revelation of Jesus Christ, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”1 Chapters seven and eight follow the great Eucharistic Discourse in chapter six and form one narrative, separated by about months. This is based on the fact that John 6 importantly takes place during the Feast of Passover (Usually around April) and John 7 and 8 take place over the Feasts of Atonement and Tabernacles (Usually around October).
The Liturgical Feasts of the Jews penetrate the ministry of Jesus to a great degree. Many of the high points in all four Gospels are said to happen during the great feasts. In light of this, I want to connect this discourse with another that happens over the same feasts in the Synoptics: The Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration.
First, John’s Gospel records three instances in which Christ goes up to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.2 From this, we know that Our Lord’s ministry stretches into a third year, perhaps not the full year, but we can at least cite a three-year cycle for His ministry. By this logic, we can place the discourse in John 8, within the second year of Our Lord’s Ministry.
With that in mind, I want to reflect on the passage quoted above: I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence. In the grand scheme of discourse of John 8, this claim of Christ indicates a deep theological and personal truth about Christ, that He has seen, and currently sees the divine. This reference to sight has its grounding in the Catholic teaching of the Beatific Vision. While it has been called into question in recent times, the theological history of the church is almost unanimous that from the moment of His conception in the womb, Christ possessed the Beatific Vision in His human soul. This means that the human soul, which is hypostatically united to the Word, saw the Word from the moment of its creation.3 In this discourse, Christ is revealing two things, first, that He is the Divine Son of God, and second, that even in His humanity, He sees the Divine. These two key theological truths give credence to the statement that comes next: then do what you have heard from the Father.
More than anyone else, Christ is able to reveal to mankind the will of the Father since He sees the Father and He and the Father are one.4 More than any prophet or patriarch, Christ has a unique relationship with the Father that He reveals to man what He has already seen, both in His divinity and in His humanity. It is precisely this humanity that allows Him to communicate to mankind on a human level. The Son reveals to us the inner will of the Father.
The revelation which follows at the end of John 8, Christ’s great revelation that He is Ego Eimi Ho On (I AM) has its basis here in this claim as well as stretching back into John 6 where Christ says that He has come down from Heaven.5 This all forms one revelation by Jesus Christ, that of His divinity. He has come down from Heaven, seen the Father’s presence, and is the Great I AM. In the Jewish context, these all are explicit revelations of His divine identity. The reaction of the Jews is clear here. They view this language from Christ as being blasphemous, that is, He makes Himself equal to God.6 To that end, they take up stones to kill Him.7
Finally, I want to return to the feasts of Atonement and Tabernacles. This chapter is not the first place in the Gospels that these two feasts are mentioned. One of the more important references to them appears in the Gospel of Matthew in chapters sixteen and seventeen. Here we have two connected events: the confession of St. Peter and the Transfiguration. These events happen a year after this discourse in John and are, in a sense, a completion of this discourse. In John 8, we have Christ building up to the great I AM statement. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear St. Peter confesses what Christ revealed the year prior:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16.
Peter’s confession, which takes place over the feast of Atonement, is an explicit confession of Christ’s dual identity: He is both the Messiah and the Divine Son. This connection to the Feast of Atonement is important. The Feast of Atonement is the one time of the year that the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and pronounce the Name of God. While the High Priest is pronouncing the name of God, Peter is pronouncing the identity of Christ. In the week following, the Feast of Tabernacles follows, and St. Matthew tells us that Christ take Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain and is transfigured before them. This is a visual confirmation of the confession of Peter and of the revelation recorded in John 8. This tie to the Feast of Tabernacles comes when Peter offers to build three tents or booths for Christ, Moses, and Elijah. This tie to the Feast of Tabernacles refers to the fulfillment of the feast, that is, dwelling with God. The tents are a representation of dwelling with God in this new messianic age. Peter recognizes this and desires to pitch the tent and dwell with the Divine.
Christ has a different plan; however, we are not fulfilling Tabernacles by dwelling in tents on the top of the mount of the Transfiguration. Christ takes His apostles down and continues His journey to Jerusalem for the last time. The true dwelling with God occurs in the Kingdom of Heaven and this dwelling is made possible through Christ’s death and resurrection, which are on the horizon.
In the next six months, Our Lord will journey to Jerusalem and be put to death for making Himself equal to God. These revelations surrounding the Jewish feasts serve to show that Christ is the fulfillment of these great feasts. The Divine Son came to reveal the Father and to unite man with God. He has come to reveal to man what He has already seen and to show that Glory to us. It is in this glory that we come to truly dwell with God.
As we move into Holy Week, let us reflect on this dwelling with God. The Feast of Tabernacles is brought to its completion in the dwelling with God in the glory of heaven. By the cross of Christ, man is able to enter into the dwelling place of God so that what Christ has seen, we may also see.
John 8:58.
Cf. John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55.
Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIIa q. 34, in particular, article 4.
Cf. John 10:30.
Cf. John 6:41.
Cf. John 5:18.
Cf. John 8:59.
Wonderful reflection. I am going to read it again and again lol.
I received this article as a very clear confirmation of my scripture journey through this season. This is a consumate and timely gift from the Holt Spirit. With joy I take it to heart. Thankyou.