Posts
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 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." 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 yesterday's reading, we were told 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." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." And everyone went to his own house.
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 are still at the Feast of Tabernacles (or Succoth), an eight-day festival that commemorated the time that Israel lived in tents or tabernacles. It is a feast of the coming Kingdom. My study bible says that Jesus spoke these words (I am the light of the world) in the context of the great lamps being lit at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles. "Thus He declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light. In the Scriptures, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5), an attribute He bestows on His followers (Matthew 5:14; Philip 2:15). Our Lord confirms His claim by performing the great sign of opening the eyes of a man born blind" (in the next chapter of John).
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 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." Once again, Jesus gives witnesses to His identity. (See also How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?, in which Jesus gives four witnesses to His identity.) These two witnesses here are Himself and the Father; but the Pharisees to whom He's speaking can know neither. His judgment is true because it reflects the judgment of the One who sent Him, and this they cannot understand nor recognize either.
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. My study bible explains, "Because the Son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (14:7-11)."
Jesus reaches over and over again during His speeches at this festival toward the Father, and toward an understanding of the Father by those who truly desire to know Him and to do His will. He speaks, in some sense, of recognition. They don't know the Father, although they are experts in the Scripture and in the Law, and therefore they can't recognize Him. If they loved the Father, they would know Him. And here, in my opinion, we come to a great crux in the journey of faith. Do we create God in our own image, in some sense, or is it God to whom we are devoted? The most important thing, perhaps, is to hold an understanding of God the Father as love, and yet also that which is beyond us, the One toward whom we reach in a return of that love. God, as origin and source of love, remains ultimately the place toward which we need to travel. And yet, because God is love, God's Son has been with us as Jesus Christ, reaching to us. But we can't really "hear" Him and His words without a love of the Father in our hearts. It is this spark or flame that begets everything else, that helps us to open our eyes and ears to Jesus' teaching, that gives us a way to return His love, that allows us to understand who Jesus is. This flame in our hearts, so to speak, doesn't mean we need to grasp everything in its fullness -- that is something toward which we journey. Like in every relationship, we grow into understanding of this Someone beyond ourselves. That is a lifetime journey. But the spark that draws us in love begins in us, so that Jesus' words, reflecting the Father who is the source of love, grasp our hearts, our loyalty, our love. How can one really explain or understand the fullness of this mystery? But we have Christ's words, testifying to the reality of the relationship of love within us to the Father, and that love that is shared with the Son. What sets your heart aflame? Is there something in these words that shares a light in you? You may not understand it nor explain it, but you know it's there and it stirs you forward, toward its Source. May we all be blessed to share that light and reflect it, through our love, into the world. May we also let it illumine what is in us. This love doesn't conform to our limited image; instead it teaches us what the fullness of God's love is. It works to draw us toward His image of who we can be in that love, and the ways we can become "like Him."
