Light

Turn with me to John 8. We are continuing our study of the “I Ams” of Jesus. Over the years lots of people have given their opinion as to who Jesus is. Gandhi, a Hindu, believed Jesus to be a great teacher and often read to the crowds from the Sermon on the Mount. Muhammad, who founded Islam, believed Jesus to be a prophet. Those are nice things, but they are incomplete. Jesus is both a great teacher and a prophet, but he is much more. So who is Jesus? In the seven “I Am” statements found in the gospel of John we find Jesus telling us who he is.

Last week, in John 6, we saw that Jesus said he is the bread of life.

I heard a story about a couple who advancing in years moved in with their son and his family. The first night the daughter-in-law called out that dinner was ready. The father walked into the dining room, looked at the table full of food, and walked out. “Where are you going,” the daughter-in-law asked. “Dinner’s not ready. There’s no bread on the table.” From that night on every meal was served with bread. I don’t think my father-in-law has ever walked out on a meal, but he doesn’t think a meal is complete if it doesn’t have bread either.

Bread comes in different styles, sizes, shapes, and textures, but I’m not sure there is a culture in the world that doesn’t have some kind of bread. For us bread is an extra to the meal. It may be an important part of the meal, but it’s not the main part of the meal.

When Jesus says that he is the bread of life, he’s not saying that he is a nice extra to meal to make it more enjoyable. Jesus is saying that he is the meal. Jesus is saying that he is all we need.

Picture a huge banquet table loaded with food. Then off to the side is a small table with bread. Jesus isn’t bread that we add to the banquet, Jesus is the banquet. Jesus says we don’t need what the world offers (represented by the banquet table), all we need is him. Jesus is ALL that we need. We need him more than we need our next meal. We need him more than we need our next breath. Jesus says that whoever comes to him will never go hungry, and whoever believes in him will never be thirsty. Jesus is the bread of life.

Satan tries to convince us that we need more; that what God gives us isn’t enough. That’s how he tempted Eve in the garden. Adam and Eve had anything they wanted and everything they needed. They woke each day surrounded by this garden full of fresh fruit. They could eat from any tree but one – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – and the serpent comes to Eve and says, “God isn’t giving you enough. He’s holding out on you. He’s preventing you from having what you really want and what you really need.”

Jesus says that he is the bread of life. He is all that we need. Do you believe that? That’s who Jesus says that he is.

In John 8 Jesus makes another claim about his identity. What you need to know before we read this passage is that it takes place in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. During the feast of tabernacles the Jews remembered the forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their forefather’s lack of faith in God and how God continued to provide for them and protect them during those forty years. During the feast, a seventy-five foot candelabra would be lit on the temple mount. Since the temple mount is the highest place in Jerusalem, it was said that it could be seen from anywhere in the city. Against this back background we have this next “I Am” statement.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

I’m not sure we really understand the value of light, though perhaps those older than I am might. With the rare occasion of storms that knocked out the power, there’s never been a time I haven’t been able to flip a switch and turn on a light. We are not ruled by the sun. We do what we want when we want. If it gets dark we just turn on some lights. But that’s not the way it’s been for most of history. So light has always been important.

And light plays an important role in the Bible as well. From the first book to the last light is a symbol of God’s presence and power. Turn with me to the first chapter of Genesis.

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)

Darkness is analogous to chaos, but God brings order. God creates light. The first recorded words of God are to make light bringing order from chaos. God said, “Let there be light.”

Now turn to the last book of the Bible – Revelation 21.

22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:22-27)

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)

Light is associated with God, with his glory and his righteousness while darkness is equated with sin and the absence of God’s presence.

In Matthew 8 Jesus talks about the unbelief of some Jews and says that those:

. . . will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

In the parable of the wedding feast people from the streets are invited to come and celebrate with the king. However, when the king finds a guest who has refused to dress properly:

Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 22:13)

And in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, Jesus says concerning the servant who did nothing with his master’s money:

And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

Darkness is associated with God’s judgment. Yet there are some people who seem to prefer darkness.

A few years ago a social media website asked its readers to respond to the statement, “I prefer darkness over light.” One young woman who went by the screen name “Beyond Repair” offered a particularly honest and insightful response.

I prefer darkness over light. The darkness allows me to hide who I am and what I truly feel. In the light all things have a chance to be revealed. Darkness makes it easier to hide. In the dark you cannot see what is coming next. The darkness is a place where you can lose yourself. Lost in the dark is a great place to be because then you are free from what you were and can be what you want. The darkness is bliss.

As this young woman showed, not everyone enjoys the light. There are some who prefer the darkness. They hide from the light because they don’t want who they really are to be revealed. But Jesus says he is the light and those who come to him don’t need to walk in darkness.

Darkness also represents an ignorance of the truth. We sometimes hear about the “dark ages.” The dark ages were thought to have been a time when there was little education and learning. Today scholars know that wasn’t completely true. However, we still equate those who don’t know the truth as living in darkness.

Matthew tells us that when Jesus began his ministry he moved to Capernaum which fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah who said:

The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Matthew 4:16)

They didn’t know the truth about God, but Jesus came and brought them light. God doesn’t want us walking in darkness, but sent Jesus to give us light.

We’re often told how Jesus had compassion on the crowds that he saw. We’re told that he saw them as helpless sheep without a shepherd. They needed help. They needed to know the truth. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about how Satan, the god of this age, has blinded unbelievers. They need help. Jesus has come to bring light.

How many people do you know who are blind to the truth of God’s love and grace? How many do you know who are trapped in sin? Jesus came to bring light. He came to bring freedom from sin and darkness.

There is a struggle in the world. We know who is going to win, the Bible tells us. Until that final day comes Satan wants to bring everyone he can into his kingdom of darkness. God sent Jesus to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of his Son.

13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

God sent Jesus to bring us light.

Let me end with a story that illustrates what Jesus came to do. The story is found at the beginning of chapter 8. Jesus is in the temple courts teaching when the Pharisees and teachers of the law bring to him a woman who has been caught in adultery. This is the most humiliating day of her life. No one wants to have their sins brought up in public. We try to hide them. But the teachers of the law and the Pharisees bring her to Jesus in front of everyone and let everyone know of her sin. They do so in order to see how he would handle the situation. It’s not that they really want to know what Jesus thought, but they wanted to trap him. After reminding him that the Old Testament law required that she be stoned, they asked him what he thought should be done to her.

They were right in regards to the law. Those caught in adultery were to be stoned. What’s puzzling and perhaps revealing is that only the woman is brought to Jesus for judgment. The law required both those involved to be punished. Somehow they managed to allow the man to go free while requiring the woman to stand trial. Why wasn’t he being held accountable as well?

Jesus looked at the woman, then at the men who had brought her and then bent down and started writing on the ground. The word John uses here to describe Jesus writing in the dirt is interesting. It’s not the usual word for writing. This word is used to describe someone writing a record against someone else. Some have supposed therefor that Jesus is writing a list of sins for which these men would probably be guilty of committing. Then, when the teachers of the law and Pharisees continue to question him, Jesus replies, “OK, stone her, but whoever among you who has not even desired to commit one of the sins should throw the first stone.” Then he continued his writing.

When the men heard this and saw what Jesus was writing they slowly began to leave – the older and wiser ones first followed by the younger ones. They understood what Jesus was saying. Seeing they had all left Jesus asked, “Isn’t there anyone here to condemn you?” When she replied that there wasn’t, Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you either.” Then he instructed her to go home and leave her life of sin.

We then read:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Here was a woman who had been caught in adultery -- literally and figuratively -- even as we were sometimes trapped in the grips of sin. Jesus didn’t tell her that her sin was OK or didn’t matter. Jesus didn’t send her back to continue in it. Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.” And Jesus says the same to us. Jesus didn’t send her back into darkness; he came to bring her light that she might escape from the darkness of sin. He came to bring us light.

The frightening part is that the light of Jesus reveals the sin in each of us. The question is how will we react? Do we come to Jesus for forgiveness and life or do we retreat to the darkness where our sins can remain hidden. Jesus came to offer forgiveness and life.

We all know John 3:16.

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

But the rest of the passage is important as well.

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:17-21)

There are some who do not want to see the light. There are some who prefer the darkness where their sin can go unseen. But in Jesus there is light, there is forgiveness, and there is no condemnation.

The truth is we have all lived in the dark. We have all lived in sin. Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8)

Darkness represents ignorance, death, evil, and judgment. But in Jesus we have forgiveness. In Jesus we have light. In Jesus we have forgiveness and we have life. Jesus says:

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)