Titanic -- Defining Moment

One of the moments that I love Jack most was when he proudly proclaimed that he was Jack Dawson, of the Chippewa Falls' Dawsons. He knew exactly who he was, and wasn't afraid to proclaim it.

One of the most dramatic and exciting moments when Jesus clearly stated who He was took place in His hometown, Nazareth. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and took the scroll that Isaiah had written and read the description of the coming Messiah.

“Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
and he began by saying to them,
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.””
Luke 4:20-21

What essentially happened here is Jesus opened up the Bible, read a passage about the Son of God, and said, “The Messiah you've been waiting for? It’s me!”

On another occasion, Jesus was very clear about stating who He was when a group of Jews came right out and asked Him,“Who do you think you are?”

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered,
“before Abraham was born, I am!”
John 8:58

Two facts are evident in this statement:

First, Jesus indicates that He transcends time. (You’ll read more about this in chapter 9 on Kate and Leopold.) Claiming to exist beyond the parameters of time is a claim to divinity in itself.

Second, Jesus concludes His statement with the verb conjugation “I am”. This was extremely significant as those are the exact words that God used to identify himself to Moses when He appeared in the burning bush.

A modern day equivalent would be someone identifying themselves with the surname of their father, for example identifying themselves as a Kennedy. The Jews who heard him took this as blasphemy as they got His message loud and clear – Jesus was claiming to be God.