I
enjoy oxymorons because they play with the meanings of words and are
funny (to me at least). Anyway, we all may have heard the term, but
my Wordnet dictionary defines it in this way:
1.
oxymoron -- (conjoining contradictory terms (as in `deafening
silence'))
When
I saw this picture, I was reminded of the 1991 film “Oscar” which
is the only film that I remember Sylvester Stallone playing in a
humorous spoof about a 1920’s gangster trying to go
straight. Chazz Palminteri plays Sylvester’s not-so-bright
subordinate and actually uses the word oxymoron in a sentence.
Sylvester says to Chazz that he is both an ox and a moron, which at
the time I thought was so funny that I still remember it to this day.
Why? Well, the sidekick was an OX of a man and a Moron, who was using
the term oxymoron. Anyway, see the movie; it is funny.
Oxymorons,
like other figures of speech, are often difficult to understand- you
know, like the terms metonymy, alliteration or enigma’s and the
like. But Jesus, when he told us about himself was very plain. I
thought about a term paper I wrote 30+ years ago entitled “The I
AM’s of Jesus Christ” and went to the book of John to find
some of them…
I
am He (the Messiah)
John
4 ( World English
Bible )
Joh
4:25, The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes,” (he who
is called Christ). “When he has come, he will declare to us all
things.”
Joh 4:26, Jesus said to her, “I am he, the
one who speaks to you.”
I
am the bread of life
John
6 (WEB)
Joh
6:32, Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it
wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father
gives you the true bread out of heaven.
Joh 6:33, For the bread of God is that which comes down out of
heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Joh 6:34, They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this
bread.”
Joh 6:35, Jesus said to them, “I am the
bread of life. He who comes
to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be
thirsty….
I
am the light of the world
John
8 (WEB)
Joh 8:12, Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I
am the light of the world.* He who follows me will
not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
I
am not of this world
Joh 8:23, He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above.
You are of this world. I am not of this
world…
I
AM
Joh
8:57, The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years
old, and have you seen Abraham?”
Joh 8:58, Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before
Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
I
am the door
John
10 (WEB)
Joh
10:7, Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell
you, I am the sheep’s door.
Joh 10:8, All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep didn’t listen to them.
Joh 10:9, I am the door.
If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go
out, and will find pasture.
The
Good Shepherd
Joh 10:11, I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12, He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t
own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The
wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
Joh 10:13, The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and
doesn’t care for the sheep.
Joh 10:14, I am the good shepherd.
I know my own, and I’m known by my own;
Joh 10:15, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay
down my life for the sheep.
The
Son of God
Joh
10:32, Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from
my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
Joh 10:33, The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good
work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself
God.”
Joh 10:34, Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I
said, you are gods?’*
Joh 10:35, If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and
the Scripture can’t be broken),
Joh 10:36, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into
the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I
said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
“I
am the resurrection and the life...
John
11 (WEB)
Joh 11:21, Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have
been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
Joh 11:22, Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will
give you.”
Joh 11:23, Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Joh 11:24, Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in
the resurrection at the last day.”
Joh 11:25, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
Joh 11:26, Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you
believe this?”
I
am the way, the truth, and the life.
John
14 (WEB)
Joh 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father,
except through me.
I
am in the Father, and the Father in me
Joh
14:10, Don’t you believe that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father
who lives in me does his works.
I
am the true vine
John
15 (WEB)
Joh 15:1, “I am the true vine,
and my Father is the farmer.
Joh 15:2, Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes
away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more
fruit.
Joh 15:3, You are already pruned clean because of the word which
I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4, Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear
fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you,
unless you remain in me.
Joh 15:5, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in
me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you
can do nothing.
I
am not of the world
John
17 (WEB)
Joh 17:14, I have given them your word. The world hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not
of the world.
As I
remember it that term paper I wrote was quite lengthy, so I won’t
repeat it this medium, but I just wanted to present some of the
things that Jesus said about himself so that we both could remember
how straightforward he could be when it came to who he was and what
he was doing here on earth.
If
you have the opportunity, read the entire book of John, if not, then
these passages will get you started on discovering or re-discovering
who Jesus really is. What time you spend will be worth it- so get
going; you will be glad you did.