In today's Gospel Reading, we see Jesus declaring Himself to be the true object of the promise made to Abraham and the real cause of Abraham's gladness (in Genesis 18:18, Abraham laughed when he heard he was to have a son, for he saw in it the fruition of God's promises of a messianic line and a future for Israel). Jesus is the climax of God's covenantal relationship with humankind. God sent His Son to save the world, to give us the possibility of eternal life. This is the greatest proof of His covenant fidelity.

The Jews debating with Jesus did not know this; they preferred to think in terms of the physical death of Abraham, while Jesus knew the faihfulness of God. God's covenant with Abraham expressed itself in loving His people, even though they had been unfaithful, and in sending His Son as a climatic display of His covenant love. Jesus could claim the title of "I AM" (Everlasting existence) for he came to inaugurate the new and everlasting covenant, the covenant that held through the ups and downs of Jewish history, its triumphs and setbacks, and that was now visible in the presence of Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God.