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

 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 on the last day, that great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 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 out 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."

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.  These were huge oil lamps that towered over the court of the temple and produced a light so bright it illumined the surrounding area of the city.  This took place at night, in remembrance of the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the darkness.   My study bible explains that Jesus here declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light.  In the Scriptures, my study bible tells us, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5), an attribute which God bestows on God's followers (Matthew 5:14; Philip 2:15).  In the following chapter, Christ confirms His claim by performing the great sign of opening the eyes of a man born blind (9:1-7, esp 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."  Here the central question is, as so frequently repeated in the Gospels, the identity of Christ and therefore His authority.  The Pharisees claim that He cannot bear witness of Himself.  Jesus has previously addressed this question of witness in chapter 5, when at the Feast of Weeks He healed a man on the Sabbath, and so began this controversy and accusation with the leaders.  There, He offered four witnesses to Himself (see this reading).  In the Law, two witnesses were required, and here Jesus offers two:  Himself and the "Father who sent 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.  My study bible comments here that because the Son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (14:7-11).

How can Jesus be a witness to Himself as Christ?  This is an interesting question, even a puzzling one -- or at least one that opens up different kinds of answers.  Jesus is witness to Himself as Son, not as human being.  He more or less makes this kind of distinction when He says that He judges no one:  "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."   All authority for Jesus rests with the Father; it is His alignment with the Father that creates authority.  His witness is not "of the flesh" but rather a divine witness to the reality of the Son and the Father.  His witness is true because He comes from the Father and knows that He will return to the Father.  This is an important understanding for ourselves both of humility and of integrity.  How is our witness true?  Jesus says also in today's passage that He is the light of the world.  He is here to illuminate all things, to give us meaning in our lives, insight.  Moreover, His is the light of life -- His illumination is life itself, even life abundantly.  It is in this light that we take on our own integrity, just as Christ's witness and judgment is true because of His alignment with and loyalty to the Father.  In humility we accept His light and grace, and we also know where it comes from.  We accept that light in order to grow ourselves in our own capability for taking it on, shining it back into the world, glorifying the Father in so doing.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes so far as to tell His disciples, "You are the light of the world" (see Matthew 5:13-16).  In all these statements, we can read a kind of unity through communion that extends from Father to Son (and of course, with the Holy Spirit), but also in turn to us, by adoption, and through faith.  What we are given to understand is Jesus' advocacy of a type of integrity that is found in the humility of loving God with all one's heart and soul and mind and strength.   To love is to trust, to surrender, to put one's being in union with another.  Jesus calls us to a faith that asks for confidence in God, of putting our trust in the One who will call us to change and to become the person God calls us to be.  In the Creed, we state of Jesus that He is "light from light, true God of true God."  Christ also offers to share with us that light so that we may in turn share it with others.  If we consider the great lamps in the ceremony at the Feast of Tabernacles, we know that light as flame, one that also transforms and purifies.  In this He offers us our own integrity, the capacity for true witness, in reconciling ourselves to the life He gives.