Who is more extensive: Abraham or Jesus?

We cannot imagine our lives without making choices. How many times a day do we have to decide things quickly; what to do first, what to pay more attention to, who to give more respect to… Similarly, when the Jews encountered Jesus, they were put in a situation where they had to decide. The argument was to recognize who was more incredible: Abraham or Jesus?

This dispute plays out in the controversy over the sonship of Abraham. Jesus points out that he has preeminence over Abraham. “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing. But my Father glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ and do not know Him. But I know Him.” (Jn. 8:54-55).
Thus, Jesus proves that God favored him over Abraham, who was a man born in time. But Jesus is the incarnate Word who is eternal and who was with God before all ages, before the foundation of the world. Jesus proves to them that He was before Abraham: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw and was glad.” (Jn. 8:56).
The Jews see before them only a young man. Jesus was 33 years old, so they call him: “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” (Jn. 8:57). They do not understand and do not want to realize that Jesus is the Son of God, equal with God the Father, who knows no concept of time. Thus he was before Abraham, whom the Father-God of Jesus calls from Ur of the Chaldees to a land unknown: the land of Canaan, and gives him the promise that out of his offspring will come redemption… Jesus speaks and affirms other sayings in this discourse, so we can understand and embrace other truths taught by our faith today based on one dialogue. Jesus teaches that he is equal with God the Father. Jesus was, therefore, God and man in one person. He became like us in all things, took flesh from the Virgin Mary, was born, lived among us, died. But He was God always and always, never for a moment ceasing to be God, even when He took on the form of a man.
But we can only understand all this in the full context of the doctrine of love. No one could love more than Jesus because he gave his own life for us. He wanted to make atonement to His Father for the sins of all humanity. This had to be done by one who was equal with God the Father and at the same time was close to men. This could only be done, therefore, because from eternity, God the Son, the second divine person, true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, took upon Himself the form of a man to do what no man, nor all men together, could ever do, to atone for the insult that creation had done when it offended God the Father by transgressing His command.

We today do not just see the bodily form of Jesus Christ, but we see in Jesus the indeed true God. The One before whom we will one day appear, the One whom, in His own words, we will see face to face if we endure to the end. This commits us to worship Jesus Christ as God. Our knees bow before the cross, before the images representing Jesus Christ. We pay homage and homage to the God whom we love, to whom we want to belong wholly, and ultimately, to whom we beg, beg, and give thanks.

Even though the Jews did not accept the truth of Jesus and wanted to stone him, we today believe in his deity, that he is equal with God the Father, we believe that he was first not only like the forefather Abraham, but that nothing came before him, for he is from eternity. We believe that heaven and earth will pass away, but his existence knows no end. That is why we are here this day also, to give God our conscious and voluntary homage, that in the most precious gifts – reason and free will – we may gain the merit of meeting him and of dwelling eternally in his presence.

When we find ourselves in a situation where we have to decide on something in the area of faith, let us always give preference to that which will be more beneficial to us for obtaining eternal life.