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Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and know where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.
- John 8:12-20
In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles. (See earlier readings from Friday, Saturday, and Monday.) Yesterday, we read that after those earlier events (in the previous readings), everyone went to their home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped own and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." We read in Monday's reading that on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." This was tied to events of the last day of the feast, in which water is poured as a libation to commemorate the water from the rock that Moses struck. My study bible explains here that "during the Feast of Tabernacles, torches were lit in the temple court, and singing and dancing continued each night. In this context Jesus is the One who gives the light of life. In the New Testament God is light (1 John 1:5); the followers of Jesus are the light (Matthew 5:14); and believers shine as lights in the world (Phil. 2:15). In these and other references in John, God is the source of this uncreated, life-giving light."
The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and know where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. Jesus speaks in the treasury; His words are those to treasure. Here and in the next reading, as my study bible puts it, "in the face of resistance and disbelief Jesus continues to proclaim His relationship with the Father. The Pharisees either were unable to understand Jesus' words or were simply astonished that Jesus was claiming God as His own Father." Of the teaching here (verse 19), a note tells us, "Because the Son and the Father share the same nature, one cannot be known apart from the other. St. John Chrysostom writes: 'Indeed, if He were not of the same nature as the Father, He would not have spoken as He did.'"
We have to marvel at Jesus' consistency, His efforts to express who He is. He doesn't back down from statements that are affirming of the relationship between Himself and the Father. Earlier, He gave four witnesses to Himself: John the Baptist, the works He does, the Father, and the Scriptures (including those written by Moses). Here the proclamation is more simple and more direct. He doesn't shy away now from using Himself as witness. Even if He bears witness to Himself, He says, He knows where He is from and where He is going, and they don't. Everything goes back to the Father. And this is the relationship that defines everything. It is "where He is from and where He is going." It is why He doesn't judge alone, why His judgment is true. It is why He is not alone, why He has two witnesses. But His audience knows neither one of them. Everything goes back to the relationship to the Father. Even when using Himself as witness, even when declaring that He is the light of the world, Jesus goes back to the Father, and how He is never separate from the Father. His audience does not believe Him, but these words are for all of us, for each of us. And I think there is a much more powerful teaching here than merely informing us of Jesus' identity. Jesus teaches each one of us about our relationship to Creator, about our relationship to what good judgment is, about a relationship that sustains us even at times we think we are alone. He shifts our perspective from judgment according the flesh to judgment according to the relationship we, too, have to God. And, just like Jesus, while we might not be Sons with a capital S, we are all children and we are loved and cared for. It's this relationship He's pointing to that tells us of an expectation that we should all "know the Father." In this relatedness of love we are defined and given identity; we don't need others to testify of ourselves when we have a sense how we are before God. Do we share the light we're given with others? Then that light speaks for us. Do we live in the world as He's taught us to be, as "lights in the world" as the quotation from Philippians teaches? This light is not a question of everyone else's judgment but really a question of faith and relationship. How we live as those who share what He brings to us really doesn't depend on what everyone else thinks or believes we should be doing. Judgment will always come back to God, to Christ, just as it is this primary relationship that defines what love is and what it looks like, what it does, how it works, and the always-surprising "rivers of living water" that are products of the Spirit. Let us remain in this place of light and ever-flowing water, so that whenever we feel exhausted or depleted it's always there to renew. In this, we are not alone. Let us walk in the light of life, no matter what darkness we may encounter or pass through.
