The light of the world

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.’ Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’ 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. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’ 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.’ 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 8:12-20

So, in this passage, Jesus boldly states his character and his nature. He is the light of the world, and he is sent by his Father. Perplexing words to his listeners - they've never heard anyone speak like this. How can they understand what he is about?

In this passage we have the testimony of Jesus himself as to his own true nature and origins. His ties to the Father are unassailable - so close as to constitute a recognition of both if a person knows one or the other. In these passages in John, we are given theology, a notion of the relationship between Father and Son, and what it means to know One, and therefore the Other.

I'd like to focus on relationship, and the nature of the relationship between Father and Son. For me, the intrinsic nature of the depth of relationship described here means what Jesus says, that knowing one means knowing or recognizing the other. Their natures are so aligned, and so meshed, that this recognition takes shape as a matter of some form of automatic cognizance. If you know one, then you know the other. So what does it say about the nature of the mysterious Father? This is what intrigues me today. In Jesus we have a dynamic, potent, powerful man, unafraid to speak the truth, to risk death for that truth. Ultimately, someone who is loyal to the place he's from, to the Person with whom he has such a relationship. He may have been born into the world, but his awareness is of whence he's come, and where he will return. I wish to focus on that loyalty and that love, because for me it is the true character of God. In that loyalty and love I also receive God's investment in us, and Christ's love and loyalty to us. I feel that this relationship between Father and Son is also extended that deeply into us, and that the door on Christ's side is always open to invest that same trust, love and loyalty in us. This is what distinguishes God's holy character for me: it is ultimately good, loyal and loving. Christ put his faith in the healed demoniac to be an evangelist, to represent Jesus to the world, just as the Son was sent by the Father. So love and loyalty of Father and Son are also extended to each of us, and can reach even unto the hell in which we may find ourselves - in love and loyalty to us. So, this light is not just shared between Father and Son, but is extended in love to us. To quote from today's psalm reading:

I say, ‘You are gods,

children of the Most High, all of you'