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 Jesus' confrontation with the leaders in the temple, 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 stopped 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."   It is important to remember our context in the reading.  Although yesterday's passage is not found in several early manuscripts, we may note that these words of Christ, and His lack of condemnation of the woman caught in adultery (including His teaching to her, "Go and sin no more") reflect His righteous judgment.  It is in His light that we discern spiritual truth and righteousness, that we might judge with righteous judgment.  Another essential understanding of context is that Christ speaks these words on the "last day, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles.  This was the day when the great lamps were lit in the courtyard of the temple -- a huge menorah.  Its light was said to be so great that all the neighborhoods around the temple were brightly illumined at night.  My study bible says that, in this context, Jesus declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light, a theme found throughout the Gospel of John, and particularly in its Prologue.  It adds that in the Scriptures, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5).  Our Lord confirms His claim through the performance of the great sign of opening the eyes of a man born blind, in the following chapter (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."   Once again, as at a previous festival in Jerusalem (the Feast of Weeks, or Old Testament Pentecost), Jesus offers witnesses of His identity to the leadership.  At that festival, Jesus gave four witnesses:  John the Baptist, Christ's own works, God the Father, and the Scriptures (see this reading from chapter 5).  We recall that in the law, two witnesses were required, as Jesus states here.  In today's reading, He gives two witnesses:  Himself and the Father who has sent Him.  Let us carefully note once again John's great emphasis on true and righteous judgment.

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).  Clearly, these words also give us another purpose of Christ's Incarnation:  He reveals to us the Father.  Christ's hour is the time of His Passion, death, and Resurrection.

As we have seen in the past several readings in John's Gospel, this entire chapter has been bound up in teachings about justice, about righteous judgment.  In the first reading from this chapter, as He was considering going up to Jerusalem for the festival, Jesus said to His brothers, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."  And as the chapter has progressed, we have been given a taste of what constitutes works that are evil:  namely, the failure to judge with righteous judgment.  In Saturday's reading, Jesus said something similar to what we read in today's reading:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Yet the Pharisees persist in errors of judgment where He is concerned.  On Monday, we read that Nicodemus, who is also a Pharisee, questioned his fellow men of the Council, saying, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"   The leaders responded with an insult, and by saying something that was untrue, that no prophet had arisen out of Galilee.  In yesterday's reading (above), we were given the question of the woman who was taken in adultery, and Jesus' refusal to condemn, but to teach her to "go and sin no more."  Here in today's reading, John's Gospel once more considers questions of justice.  Jesus' response to the leaders, after refusing to condemn and setting free the woman taken in adultery, is key:  "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  Christ as the true light illumines our way toward righteous judgment.  How do we know how to judge except by a good light, and with a good yardstick?   His is the pattern that sets down the light for us, illuminating our way.  As we wrote in yesterday's commentary, He is the God of second chances, the One who gives us both mercy and justice, and who teaches that these two things are not in opposition to each other, but form part and parcel of one another -- that one is not present without the other.  Righteous judgment, as He has said, is not judgment by appearances.  Rather, Jesus gives us a proper formula for good judgment, when He teaches regarding Himself and His own judgment:  "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."  That judgment according to the flesh is the judgment by appearances alone, it is the judgment of this world whose "works are evil."  Christ's good judgment is contained right in His words in today's reading, when He teaches that His judgment is true, because He is with the Father who sent Him.  That is, He conditions His will to that of the Father.  His judgment is not that of the self-righteous, but that of One who seeks what is beyond Himself, in a worldly sense:  He seeks the judgment of the Father.  When He offers Himself to us as the light of the world, He is teaching each one of us that to seek Him is to seek righteous judgment.  He is teaching each of us that there is a light by which we are to seek true judgment, no matter what the case or the circumstances.  We are to remember that it is not of our own judgment alone that we might be righteous in our treatment and judgment of one another, but only through seeking that will which is beyond our own, and which is present in order to illuminate what we don't yet know and cannot see.  We need a light to illumine our own paths, so that we know where we are going, what we are choosing, and how to give up our own obstacles that block good sight and righteous judgment.  This is an encouragement that tells us that if we truly wish to be righteous, we must seek to be "like Him," for He is here to give us the Father, to accompany us with light on our journey.  Jesus will say, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going" (12:35).  In today's reading, He teaches us that He is, indeed, that light.  He is in the world, as incarnate human being, so that He might bring that light to us -- to each one of us, and so that He might shine that light when we need it and when we call upon it to illumine our own footsteps so that we know where we are going.  Let us consider His righteous judgment.  Even Jesus relies on the Father for righteousness and does not judge of Himself.  Who are we to decide our judgment is, of itself, superior?  We always need His light so that we know where we are going.