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 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."

 

 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."  My study bible explains that Jesus is speaking these words in the context of the great lamps being lit at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The great lamps were huge menorahs, so large and tall that they illumined a great deal of the city when they were lit.  My study bible explains that Jesus is declaring 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 which God bestows on God's followers (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15).  Christ confirms this claim in the following chapter, in which the eyes of a man born blind are opened (9:1-7; see 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."   Earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus gave four witnesses to the religious leaders (see 5:31-47).  Jesus remarks here that "it is also written your law that the testimony of two men is true," citing the requirements of the Law in Deuteronomy 17:6.  Here Jesus gives two witnesses, and contradicting the statement of the Pharisees, He defends Himself as witness, but for only one reason:  His close relationship to the Father.  Jesus does not judge according to the flesh; He states that He judges no one.  But if He judges, it is with true judgment because He is with the One who sent Him.  His witnesses are 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 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). 

Jesus interestingly makes one strikingly powerful statement in the last part of today's reading.  He says, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."   So much comes down not to worldly considerations and reliance on construction of intellectual ideas and rationale of authority, but rather to loving and knowing God.  Jesus makes many assertions like this through the Gospel, that the first way to know and judge anything is to love God first.  If we know God, then somehow can find our way to what makes sense, what we trust, what we can place our faith in.  As Jesus says about His own judgment, it is important to seek God when we try to find discernment about anything.  It is God who forms the structure of order and truth that sets other things in proper order.  Just as in the two greatest commandments which Jesus gives, one follows the other:  "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).  It is the love of God that guides us into how we are to relate to one another and to practice love.  With Christ's statement to the Pharisees in today's reading, we're given a real sense that He is in this world so that we can know the Father through Him.  And in this sense of coming to know the good, Christ speaks of Himself as the light of the world.  He is the light through which everything else is defined, distinguished, and discerned.  It is His values and order that help us to establish order in our lives, and move on a positive path, even coming to acceptance about the negative things in our lives -- and in ourselves.  For these things we need His illumination; otherwise we judge "according to the flesh."  Let us consider the important reasons why we seek to know God through love, and why Christ's light makes such a great huge difference in our lives.  Our prayers are our ways and means of doing that, knowing God, becoming closer, asking for the light so that even the dark places may be lit up.  Asking for the positive, so that life on worldly terms doesn't make us feel defeated.  God is love, and this is how we know Christ and seek to find His light.  It is in this sense that we follow Him, so that we shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.