Trusting Jesus as the Light

Trial by Media

Every so often, we get a big high-profile court case being played out on the news each night.

Each night we get updates on what various witnesses have said, and we start to form our own opinion.

We’ve had the whole Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann case which dragged on for a very long time - in fact, we still seem to hear remnants of this case even though it happened quite a long time ago now.

We had the big defamation case against Ben Roberts Smith - the decorated soldier who was accused of war crimes in a paper.

There was the George Pell sexual assualt case.

And I could name many more.

In each of these cases, from the comfort of our couch, we make our own assessment.

Do I trust this guy? Is this a dodgy person trying to manufacture a clean image? Or is this a good person who someone has decided to just drag through the mud?

We make judgements on the people making the accusations. Are they trustworthy people just wanting to see justice done? Or do they have an ulterior motive? Have they just completely made up the accusations, or is there a skerrick of truth, but they’ve elaborated?

I suspect on the three cases I just named, you will have formed your own opinions on those matters. Or maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’re just happy to accept we don’t know whether these are good people or not.

But here’s the thing… whether you like it or not, we tend to make judgements on the claims people make all the time.

We’re about to have an election in the not too distant future, and each of you will make judgements on the various claims made by Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. Actually, I suspect those judgements have already formed in your minds.

Now, in the three court cases I mentioned earlier, it probably doesn’t matter too much what you think.

In the case of the politicians, well, it will affect how you vote come election day.

But there are certain voices out there that effect how we live.

I’m not talking about the so-called influencers out there, which presumably must be influencing some people out there, but I seem to be blissfully unaware of them - that is, until they pick up a baby wombat and then have to flee our country - but that’s another story.

But there are usually other people out there. Maybe they’re a they’re a commentator on TV, or a columnist in the newspaper. For some of you, there might be a favourite preacher you listen to online. Or a podcast host even.

Somewhere along the line you’ve made a decision that this is someone worth listening to.

It’s not that you’ll necessarily do anything they say, but they become highly influential in how you see the world. They help you to separate what you should believe, and what you should accept as rubbish.

Now, what was it that you decided that, yes, this is someone I think it’s worth listening to?

I ask this, because, as you might expect, I’m going to look at the big claim that Jesus made at the start of the bible reading we had earlier.

Jesus big claim

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Now, the fact that you are here, probably suggests you have at least a favourable view of Jesus, and so you’ll probably look at that claim and give you agreement - for some, perhaps even a hearty yes!

But sometimes I wonder whether we know what it means to follow Jesus.

It sounds lovely on the surface. But have you read what this guy actually says:

Here’s someone who says you’re blessed when you’re persecuted. He’s someone who’s said, the first shall last and the last shall be first. He’s said pick up your cross and follow me.

It’s all well and good to say we want to follow Jesus, but if we actually listen to what he says, we’ll realise there is a cost.

Jesus saying he’s the light, actually isn’t actually a claim that we can waltz into some sort of utopia, it’s actually a claim that he’ll help navigate us through this cruel hard and dark world.

But let me back up and explore how we got to the point where Jesus made this claim.

John 7

Last week, we looked at John 6, but I want to remind you of the week before when we were in chapter 5 - and I’m going back that far because we’re about to see the event we looked at come up again.

So way back in chapter 5, we looked at the crippled man who was healed on the Sabbath. I considered how Jesus did this most amazing miracle, but everyone was too focused on other matters that they failed to see what was directly in front of them.

That event is actually going to enter into some of the debate Jesus is about to have in chapter 7.

Chapter 6 then took us north in the region of Galilee where we saw a few different miracles take place.

As chapter 7 commences, we’re still in the region of Galilee, and as I pointed out last week, this is actually the region in which Jesus stationed himself for most of his ministry years.

But the Festival of Tabernacles was near, and so the question of whether they go to Jerusalem arose again.

Now, for those unfamiliar with this, each year there were three major festivals held in Jerusalem, namely, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Tabernacles aligned with the end of the harvest season, which was roughly October.

So, we find Jesus encouraging his disciples to go, but he’s going to stay back in Galilee. Actually, it’s interesting to watch the way Jesus goes through a discipleship journey. He shows them how and what to do, but then he encourages them to go before him.

So, the disciples go by themselves with the expectation that Jesus won’t follow. But then, if you follow through chapter 7, it’s like we get this mini-plot twist, and Jesus actually does go down, but we’re told it’s in secret.

I like to imagine Jesus wearing like a fake mustache and glasses when it tells us he goes in secret, but my imagination has probably gone too far.

But with Jesus in incognito mode, we read in the narrative that people are asking where he is.

Actually, not only are they trying to figure out where he is, they’re doing what I talked about before, that is, trying to make their own minds up about whether he is a good man or whether he’s just a deceiver.

So, the festival is now about half way through, and it is at this point that Jesus finally decides to make his presence known. And so he starts teaching. He teaches in such a way that amazes.

Now, it’s not my intention to go through all of the dialogue that you find in chapter 7. But it’s worth reading over.

The essence of what is being discussed is whether Jesus is someone they can trust. Actually more than that… the question turns more specifically to, is Jesus the Messiah.

The Messiah was the one the Jews had all been waiting for. Was it Jesus?

Some thought so. Some thought not.

This takes us into chapter 8, except, we have this interesting little story that pops up right at the start of chapter 8.

Now, this is a little tangent, but I think it’s one worth having.

Depending on your translation, you likely have a little note just before John 7:53 which says something like “The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after...” and it goes on to suggest other locations.

A commonly held view which I tend to agree with, is that the story that is contained here is something that actually happened, but they just don’t really know where it fits.

In case you’re interested, this is the story where a woman caught in adultery is brought before Jesus where the crowd is ready to stone her. Jesus famously says, let him who is without sin cast the first stone, and they all walk away.

It’s a powerful story, and one worth dwelling on, but it does seem to interrupt the flow we get from the discussion in chapter 7, to the discussion in chapter 8.

Remember, chapter 7 has the crowds trying to figure out who this Jesus guy is.

Chapter 8, continues this same idea.

I am the light of the world

But this brings us back to the claim I mentioned earlier.

With everyone busily trying to figure out who Jesus is, he says “I am the light of the world”.

Now, let’s start with the first two of those words “I am”.

At first glace, there might not initially think much about those words. We saw them last week when in chapter 6 we saw Jesus say “I am the bread of life”.

But, the words “I am” find significance when we consider them in light of God’s self disclosure to Moses, when God declares he is the “I am who I am”.

Now, it’s when you look in to the Greek and the way the words are structured, that you realise that these are not just two incidental words at the start of the sentence. These are words hinting at something bigger. Jesus is hinting at his identification with the great “I am”.

And in case, you’re not convinced by the significance of these words, you just need to go to the end of the chapter where Jesus makes it even clearer. In verse 58 he says: “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!”

The Jews certainly understood the significance of that one, because verse 59 says that because of these words, they picked up stones to stone him. Jesus was clearly speaking blasphemy because he was making himself equal with God.

The “I am” then declares himself to be light.

This light metaphor is one steeped in Old Testament allusions.

Light was the first thing God created when he spoke back in Genesis 1:3.

The Lord guided the Israelites throughout the wilderness with a cloud during the day and a tower of fire to light their way at night.

They would sing, the Lord is my light and salvation.

Many of the great promises focused on the light coming into the world.

There is great significance with light.

Jesus is this light.

In the context of the debate about his identity, this is a big statement that Jesus is making.

From this he encourages people to follow him, but I want to come back to this, as I want to really briefly explore the argument that Jesus poses as to why his testimony is valid.

The validity of Jesus witness

So, the Pharisee make the point, for a testimony to be true, you need a witness. You know, I could make all sorts of claims about myself. But if no one backs up those claims, then you would cast a great deal of doubt on it.

So who does Jesus put forward as his witness. Well, initially it looks like he says his testimony is valid by itself, but he goes on to say in verse 18 that his other witness is his Father.

So who is his father?

Jesus is a little cryptic answering this, saying that if you knew him you would know his father. It is very clear however, his father is of course God the father.

Now, as we sit here trying to make our own assessment, we need to ask, does God the Father actually provide witness to Jesus.

The answer to that question will take us into the Old Testament and see whether God’s Word speaks of Jesus.

Now this is a big question, and we could spend the rest of the day exploring the witness of Jesus in the Old Testament.

But let’s give a few highights. So we know the messiah will be born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem. We know he will be able to trace his lineage through David’s line. He will go to Egypt after his birth. We know that this messiah will be sinless and without blemish. He will be humbled in order to save humanity. This is all before we even get specifically into the death and resurrection.

Jesus fits all of these, and I’ve only just named a few.

But you know what... while we could dig deeper on all of that, but can I suggest something simpler...

Does it ring true? I think this is perhaps we usually judge whether what someone says is true or not. Sure, we’ll look at the evidence, but does it seem right? In this case, does it seem right that Jesus is the Son of God and that he provides the light that we need in this world?

The answer for billions of people throughout the world and throughout history is: yes it does.

Follow Jesus

Perhaps the skeptics among us might want to dig deeper into all of this evidence, and if that’s you, I’d be happy to help you explore it, but I actually want to shift gears as we look at what it means to follow Jesus.

You see, I alluded earlier to the fact that following Jesus is not actually about entering some utopia, at least not in this age anyway.

You go a little further down the chapter and you find Jesus talking about people wanting to kill him. Why would you want to follow someone who people are trying to kill?

Bonhoeffer

Well, to try and answer this, I want to introduce you to someone called Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was a German who was a teenager during the first world war.

His parents wanted him to pursue a career as a lawyer, but he decided to study theology, something that he excelled at at a very young age.

Well, being a German theologian in the early 1900’s, it wasn’t long before he witnessed the rise of the Nazis. While many of the churches at the time were happy to just go along with what Hitler was doing and saying, Bonhoeffer was prominent among the Christians that publicly stood opposed to all of this.

Being someone who was quite outspoken on such matters, meant that he was given a hard time.

In 1943, well into the time of the second world war, Bonhoeffer was arrested and held in prison. Tragically, just days before Germany finally surrendered, Bonhoeffer was hung.

One of Bonhoeffers most significant contributions during this time, was writing a book called the Cost of Discipleship.

This was a book about following Jesus, and as I’ve just mentioned, he knew exactly how hard it is when you try to follow Jesus in the way that he want you to follow him. For Bonhoeffer, it meant following him to prison and dying.

Of course, when he wrote the book, he didn’t know this is where things would lead.

But in the book, he introduces a concept called costly grace, which he contrasts with cheap grace.

Cheap grace is what many people think following Jesus is about. It’s essentially a free pass. It’s saying I’m forgiven, and not realising that this actually means something. Cheap grace is thinking thinking that grace is a licence to do what you want.

Costly grace on the other hand, recognises that the grace you have received has big implications on your life. It requires obedience. It requires you to follow Jesus wherever that may lead.

Why would we want costly grace? Because being with Jesus is better by far.

Jesus is the light of the world, that doesn’t mean you avoid the hard times. It means that you have a light that will guide you through those hard times.

Application

This morning, I want to encourage you to think about where you are on your journey to follow Jesus.

For some of you, you have been following Jesus a long time and you know the cost that it takes. Can I encourage you to take that light that you have received from Jesus, and help others as they learn what it means to follow Jesus. I’m talking about the process of discipleship. Walk beside people who are newer in the faith and help them.

For others, you might be newer in the faith, or for still other, you might be still trying to figure it all out. Can I encourage you to seek out someone who can help you on your journey to following Jesus.

You see, this call to follow Jesus as the light of the world doesn’t actually have to be something we do alone. One of the big lies of this world is this idea that we have to forge our way through life by ourselves. God has actually given us a community for this. Use the community that Jesus has given us.

We have been given a great light. It is a light that we can trust, because Jesus is someone we can trust.

Conclusion

There really are so many voices that we can listen to. Particularly in our age of the internet where we can hear almost any voice we want from around the world, we can find someone who we really appreciate listening to.

Some voices are better than others, but I want to really encourage you to weigh anything you hear up against the words of Jesus. Some voices can sound very sweet, but we don’t want sweet, we want the truth.

I’m going to declare, with Jesus, we will find an absolute truth that will provide the basis for everything we do.

Let me pray...