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

Yesterday we read that after the events on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles everyone went to his own house.  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 down 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."  At the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great lamps were lit in the outer court of the temple.  As the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated the time when Israel wandered in the desert of Sinai, led by the Lord in one form as a pillar of fire by night, the lamps commemorate this time.   Jesus' words further express that He is the Incarnation, the fulfillment, of the Lord of the Old Testament.  As my study bible puts it, He declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light -- an important understanding about the light that has come into the world, in order to give light to all and to shed light on all things.  In yesterday's reading, that light illuminated the mercy of God and the application of justice to a woman brought to Him to test Him.  My study bible notes that 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 will confirm this claim in the following chapter, when He performs the great sign of opening the eyes of a man born blind (9:1-7; see especially 9:5).

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."   As Jesus anticipated in His encounter with the Pharisees in chapter 5 (see this reading),  the Pharisees demand witnesses.  By tradition, a valid testimony required two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  In the earlier reading from chapter 5, Jesus gave four witnesses.  Here He gives two, Himself and the Father.

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.  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 also 14:7-11).   We note again the importance of time in John's Gospel; Jesus' hour (that is, the time of the Cross) has not yet come.

Jesus says, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  My study bible tells us that He declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light.  This is quite important in light (so to speak) of all the history that has come since the time of the Incarnation.  If we are to understand these words properly, we are to see Christ as both the absolute of light as Son ("Light from Light"), and also as personification of light in His Person and Incarnation.  In other words, Christ as the Light is found everywhere that light and truth are celebrated.  Light is an image of truth, of illumination.  Christ is the Person who is Truth.  Therefore, what we celebrate as truth or enlightenment, something that guides human beings to what is good, is a reflection of Christ as God the Son.  It also means that no matter what the circumstances in which we may find ourselves, Christ remains the light of the world.  He manifests the light that shines in the darkness (1:5)  That is, it is our communion and seeking out of Christ that remains the way to cast light on a problem, on difficult questions, on the dilemmas which may bring themselves to us or difficult problems we need to solve.  It is the light of Christ we seek for both illumination and guidance, as was the pillar of light by night for ancient Israel.  Jesus uses again the I AM statement here, the phrase that is the holy name of God (Exodus 3:14).  Used here to express that "I am the light of the world," it gives us an important sense of the eternal present -- and that as the Light He is always present with us and to us.  When we need illumination in the darkness, when we need guidance through obscure or murky circumstances, through difficult dilemmas and problems too complex for us to see the way through, we turn to Him for light.  We turn in prayer, and in communion, and with all the tools of faith that we have, so that we may ask for the light, to do things "His way."  This is the light that does not fail us, and is always there (I AM).  As we have seen from Christ's varied healings, neither time nor space are limits to God's power.  When we seek His light, just like the ancient Israelites, we may be led to a place that is different from what we expected, even from what we asked for.  But it will be the light that leads us to where we need to be, and illuminates our own understanding even of who we are -- and of who He is.  Let us consider the disciples who follow Christ, the Twelve who have stayed with Him.  Where does this light lead them?  Can they possibly expect what is to come?  Yet, this is the way of our faith.   Scripture as the word of God is also light; even the smallest detail in today's reading tells us something.  Jesus speaks in the treasury of the temple:  by what should we swear and place our faith appropriately?  What gives true value?  Is it the gold of the treasury that shines and gives our lives substance, or the true worth of the light that illuminates the value and truth of all things?