I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life

 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."  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

Our current readings place us at the Feast of Tabernacles in the last year of Jesus' life.  This is an eight-day autumn festival, commemorating the time Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai.  Yesterday we read 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 the 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.  Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought 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." As part of the Feast of Tabernacles, the conclusion includes the lighting of the great lamps at the temple.  (One recalls the pillar of fire that lit the way for the Israelites in the darkness on their way toward the promised kingdom.)  It is in this context that Jesus speaks these words.  My study bible says that He is declaring Himself to be the fulfillment and he divine object of all celebrations of light.  In Scripture, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5).  This is an attribute bestowed on God's followers (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15).  Christ proclaims such "illumination" by performing the sign of opening the eyes of the blind from birth (9:1-7, especially verse 5).

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."  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.  Once again, Jesus returns to the union of Father and Son, but most particularly to the Father from whom comes all things.  My study bible says that because the Son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (see John 14:7-11).

What is a witness?  What does it mean to be a witness, or to be a good witness?  What does it mean to bear witness?  A witness, according to one dictionary definition, is one who sees an event, or one who offers evidence or proof of something.  To bear witness, the form Jesus uses here, is a verb form of the word.  To "witness" in this way is to see otherwise observe something, or to give or serve as evidence of it, to testify to something.  What this points to is the reality of the relationship between the Father and the Son.  Can there be an earthly witness of this?  Who can give testimony to this?  Earlier in another reading, Jesus cited four witnesses to this relationship.  He named those to whom it had been divinely revealed:  John the Baptist, a prophet, and Moses, also a prophet.  As third witness He named the Scriptures, also divinely revealed.  And finally He named the works that He did, the signs, also forms of revelation of the presence of the kingdom of heaven in the world.  In today's reading, Jesus says that those who judge Him have no right to do so.  They do not know Him, nor where He is from, nor where He is going -- but He knows these things.  He says, "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one."    He goes on to add something important:  "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me."  Everything refers again back to the Father and to the witness that comes of this relationship.  What we gather from these examples of witnesses and witnessing that Jesus cites is the necessary connection to the divine that affirms and teaches about things which are divine in nature and origin.  We can speculate all that we want to, but to "judge according to the flesh" is to judge with standards that are ignorant, in some sense, of the reality of the divine.  It is to judge outside of that reality and understanding and experience.  We take away once again that Jesus is teaching these men that despite their expertise and authority, they cannot judge Him, because they do not have the experience of the love of God in their hearts.  They do not share this communion, and thereby they do not judge accurately nor appropriately.  The theme of today's reading might be summed up in Jesus' words that He is the light of the world.  He says, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  If it is He who comes from the Father, He shares this light with the world.  He has brought illumination for all of us, for each of us.  And it is His mission to bring us to that light so that we, too, may share in it and reflect it into the world.  Everything becomes about this depth of relationship.  We can look at the image of the great lamps burning at the temple, reminding us of the pillar of fire that lit the way in the darkness for the Israelites.  Fire, like light, can be shared and spread.  As one candle in the darkness is lit by the next, this is a light with a divine origin, but which spreads its communion among us and within us.  It is the divine working of this light that we seek, and that we know from Christ and Christ's witness, and all those who bear witness also to this light.  How do you share in it?   How is that light shared with you?  How do you share it with the world and bear witness yourself?