Untitled Sermon (6)

Scripture

(TNIV)

12When 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.”

13The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

14Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

19Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

(TNIV)

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

10“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

11He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

12“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

17Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

18They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

20“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God and tell the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

25He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Sermon Outline

Introduction

1. The best introduction, if you begin by talking about light and darkness, would be a story/ experience from your own life about light and darkness. I would begin by saying that as I child I feared the dark. I hated the light going out at night, always insisting that my door be left half open so it was not pitch dark in my room. I never wanted to go outside at night without a torch and even then I felt scared. A couple of my grandchildren demand a light be left on in their room. They too hate the dark. For a lot of people darkness makes them uneasy, even fearful. Light in contrast is reassuring and felt to be positive.

2. A vivid example of the negativity implied by darkness and night is found in John chapter 3. John tells us Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus in ‘the night’ (v. 1). We immediately know from these words, he came not wanting any one to know what he had done, he came secretly, fearfully.

3. All around the world, darkness is often metaphor for evil, lostness, and uncertainty. Light is a metaphor for hope, direction, certainty. No surprisingly, Jesus the master communicator, often used such picture words in his teaching.

Old Testament Background

1. In the first sermon on the ‘I am sayings’, we noted that in saying, ‘I am’ Jesus was claiming the name of Yahweh, the God revealed in the OT. Here we add that the Jews thought of the coming Messiah, not only as a new King David, but also as God’s light coming into the world (, , etc).

a. So Jesus as he begins his ministry quotes , ‘the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light … light has dawned’.

b. In Luke we have the story of Simeon the old prophet who welcomes the baby Jesus when his parents bring him to the temple by saying, ‘for my eyes have seen your salvation … a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people, Israel’.

A Light to Lighten Unbelieving Jews

1. Twice Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world, , . Because the context in each case is different we are to see two applications of this one saying, and thus two ways this ‘I am’ saying addresses us today.

2. In the first reference Jesus is teaching in the Temple on ‘the last day’ of the feast of Tabernacles (7:37). On the first day of this feast there was a ceremony called ‘the illumination of the Temple,’ that involved the lighting of four large candelabra (seven fold candle holders) by the priests and each person present lighting their own candles. It must have been like a temple, carols by candlelight.

3. The Jewish writings from the time tell us that these candles produced so much light that it pierced the darkness of the city of Jerusalem, lightening every street and home. On the last day of the feast there were no lit candles. Thus when Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’, the temple was in darkness and the city was in darkness.

4. Jesus addresses these words to the hostile Jewish leaders who want to destroy him. Their closed minds he sees as a form of darkness. (John makes it quite clear that from 7:45 ff Jesus is not speaking to the crowds or his disciples but to his bitterest enemies the Jewish leaders. —Read to confirm this point).

5. His hearers reacted strongly. They said, you are giving false testimony; you are wrong. The Law and the temple are God’s light in the world and we are the custodians. No, says Jesus, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

a. It is not in the temple or by keeping the Law you will find light and life but by following me, says Jesus. ‘Following me’, means becoming my disciple. A disciple in the Gospels is one who ‘follows Jesus’.

b. In these words Jesus anticipates the end of temple worship and the end of the Jewish law. No wonder the Jewish leaders were very angry and hostile. What was most important to them, Jesus announces, has now been superseded.

6. A brief comment, illustrated from your own experience, on how you can understand their feelings of anger at hearing that what was so important to them was to be done away with would be good to add at this point. How did you feel when you heard your car was unroadworthy, the medicine you needed was no longer on the free list, you had lost a benefit ….

A Light to All Who Believe

1. The second time Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world’ (9:5) these words are found in the context of the healing of the man born blind. In this narrative blindness and sight are seen not only as a horrible physical disability in one man but more importantly as a spiritual disability affecting all people that only Dr Jesus, the great physician, can heal.

2. Giving sight to a man who had been born blind was truly a supernatural miracle. It involved creating new tissue, nerves and blood vessels, and giving his brain the ability to interpret the variations in light impacting on his cortex. Only God can do this sort of miracle. John’s account of this miracle is a sermon on its own. Today we can only consider why in this context Jesus spoke of himself as ‘the light of the world.’

3. The answer is seen at the climax of this story when Jesus calls on the man who has been healed to believe in him. Jesus says to him, ‘I came into this world ‘so that those who do not see may see’ (9:39). The healed man shows that physical and spiritual healing has taken place when he responds, ‘I believe.’

4. The physical miracle was stupendous but in this dark world breaking spiritual blindness is the greater miracle. Only the grace of God can give sight to blind eyes, only the touch of Jesus can lead to faith.

5. Perhaps at this point you could tell a story of someone who miraculously ‘saw the light’ in Jesus.

Conclusion

1. Darkness can certainly make us uncertain and fearful. To say someone is, ‘walking in the dark’ means they have lost the way. In contrast, to say someone is ‘walking in the light’ means they know where they are going. They are moving forward with confidence. Light and darkness are powerful symbolic ideas. Jesus takes these powerful symbolic terms and uses them to speak of his own ministry. He has come to dispel darkness and offer light to those who listen to him and follow him.

2. To all of us here today Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’.