“12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid, for it is not I alone who judge but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” 19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come” John 8:1-20.
This is the second of the “I AM” statements in John’s Gospel. We saw already in John 1:4 that “in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of all people.” The Light metaphor is steeped in Old Testament language and thought, for the glory of the presence of God across the desert was in a cloud that led the people to the Promised Land (Exodus 13:21-22), and protected them from those who would destroy them (Exodus 14:19-25).
Throughout their journey to the Promised Land the Israelites sang, “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation” (Psalm 27:1). The Word of God, the Law of God, the Torah, is a light to guide the path of those who cherish instruction (Psalm 119;105 and Proverbs 6:23). Light is Yahweh in action (Psalm 44:3). Isaiah tells us that the servant of the Lord was appointed as a light to the Gentiles, so that He might bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Zechariah 14:5-7 is very significant because it promises continual light on the last day, followed by the promise of living waters flowing from Jerusalem, two symbols of the Feast of Tabernacles. This passage from Zechariah, in fact, is often read during the Feast of Tabernacles. Yet in John’s Gospel the dawning of the Light in the coming of Jesus is a significant theme. Because the Gospel of John has such strong Jewish roots, the struggle over authority with Jews who wish to maintain their received tradition, Jesus’ declaration that He is the Light of the World must have been received with stunning force.
Jesus is back in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles — or Booths — and to the Jews it is called Sukkot. This festival included torches at night. When the Temple was still standing, great pillars like candelabra were erected and illumined in the Court of Women. Levite youths poured oil into the basins for the different branches of the candelabra, and wicks were lighted to celebrate this Festival of Joy. Because the Temple stood atop a hill, the blazing candles illuminated the city below, so that all of Israel could see from far distances. This glorious blaze of fire recalled to Israelites God’s 4 Shekinah, the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night that accompanied them throughout their wanderings in the wilderness. Jewish men danced bearing torches while the Levite orchestra played on. The Talmud says of the Temple torches that accompanied the water-drawing ceremony, “He who has not beheld this celebration has never seen joy in his life.”
Jesus is claiming that He, not the festival torches, is the real light of the world. Jesus is making a pronouncement about who He is, about His identity, when He says, “I am the Light of the World.” Unlike others, Jesus knows His origin and destiny, and is able to bear true and reliable witness about Himself. And yet Jesus doesn’t testify about Himself alone because He is inseparable from the Father, and it is their combined witness that we all ought to acknowledge. Yet Jesus calls us to follow Him and no one else, promising that His followers will “never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (Verse 12). Notice too the recurring themes of witness and judgement which we see Jesus teaching throughout John’s Gospel. “22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” John 5:22-23.
Now shortly after making this declaration about being the Light of the World, Jesus returns sight to a blind man, and we need to see the connection between the declaration of Jesus that “I Am the Light of the World” with curing the man born blind in the following chapter 9. Jesus follows His teaching with His living and working as the Light of the world. He says a few verses later, “5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” John 9:5. By healing the man born blind Jesus is demonstrating the truthfulness and witness of what He just taught, namely, that He is truly the Light of the World. Here the Light is bearing witness to itself!
“As He walked along, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know’”John 9:1-12.
Notice the Jews misunderstand Jesus’ teaching about being the Light of the World, and so they challenge His authority to heal the man born blind. Sadly, in assessing who Jesus is, His opponents are judging by human standards (John 8:15-16). John points out the pith, the marrow, of this teaching and action of Jesus, noting that “the Jews did not believe” in Jesus John 9:18, while asking the blind man He just healed, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The healed man replies: “‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped Jesus” John 9:38. So Jesus’ teaching that He is the Light of the World is a cll, and invitation, to believe in Jesus. This teaching of Jesus is much more than just an interesting statement or teaching about who Jesus is. It is a call “that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name” John 20:31.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
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