I Am...The Light of the World"

Intro

Throughout John’s account, he is trying to get us to think about and understand these two inferred questions:

Who is Jesus?

What do I do with his words/teachings?

Remeber John 20:30-31

John 20:30–31 NIVUK84

30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

To further set the stage for where we are going this morning there are some additional passages I want us to keep in mind that set the stage for this “I Am” statement of Jesus.

John 1:1–9 NIVUK84

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Genesis 1:1–5 NIVUK84

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Because of who Jesus is, it changes what we do and who we are.

Because He is the Light of the World, We Walk in the Light

John 8:12 NIVUK84

12 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.”

For us to understand this “I Am” statement of Jesus, we need to understand where this statement falls within the timeline and setting of John’s Gospel.

That means we need to back up a little bit.

Last week we looked at chapter 6 and our next “I Am” statement of Jesus we just looked at is chapter 8.

In Chapter 7, there is an encounter Jesus has with his brothers which is interesting and something we will look at at another time. But what I do want us to look at is this festival that Jesus goes to, this Feast of Tabernacles.

This feast is important to understand some of the history and purpose of it as it relates to John 8:12.

It is the third of the great annual festivals of the Jews (Lev. 23:33–43). It is also called the “feast of ingathering” and the Feast of Shelters (Ex. 23:16; Deut. 16:13). It was celebrated immediately after the harvest, and the celebration lasted for eight days (Lev. 23:33–43). During that period the people left their homes and lived in booths formed of the branches of trees. This feast was designed (1) to be a memorial of the wilderness wanderings, when the people dwelt in booths (Lev. 23:43), and (2) to be a harvest thanksgiving (Neh. 8:9–18). The Jews, at a later time, introduced two additions to the original festival, (1) that of drawing water from the Pool of Siloam, and pouring it upon the altar (John 7:2, 37), as a memorial of the water from the rock in Horeb; and (2) of lighting the lamps at night, a memorial of the pillar of fire by night during their wanderings.1

1 Easton, M. G. Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature 1893: 651. Print.

In the New Testament, Jesus celebrates the feast of Tabernacles in John 7, and it is within this context that Jesus invites the thirsty to drink from Him and declares that He is the light of the world (Ulfgard, Story of Sukkot, 258–61).

Jesus’ teaching at the feast relates to the importance of the reading of the law. Jesus’ invitation to the thirsty to come to Him to drink in John 7:37-38 relates to references to the Feast of Tabernacles in Zech 14:1–21 and Ezek 47:1–12; the setting is the water flooding service, where water was brought up to the altar and poured over it (Rubenstein, History of Sukkot, 117–31).

In John 8:12, when Jesus declares he is the “light of the world,” the setting could be the last night of the feast, when celebrants stayed up all night in the temple courts, which were lit by enormous lamps (Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot, 137–38).1

Jesus is again, in the context of their rituals and festivals and in their keeping of the Law is communicating who he is.

As we look at the implications of this statement of Jesus and the context of it, we look to the light Jesus gives us hope.

As the Jews celebrated this festival, it was to remind them of the hope that God gave them in light of their circumstances.

We need this same encounter with Jesus, as the source of our hope. The provider of our ultimate hope. Remember, this is who Jesus says he is. He is the light of hope.

I know many of us right now and through the last couple years have needed this attribute of Jesus to see us through. We need this promise of hope of who is. Hope when things are dark...

A man sentenced to death obtained a reprieve by assuring the king he would teach his majesty's horse to fly within the year--on the condition that if he didn't succeed, he would be put to death at the end of the year. "Within a year," the man explained later, "the king may die, or I may die, or the horse may die. Furthermore, in a year, who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly."

We often try to manufacture our hope. We are told to think positively. This is prevalent in our churches as well. We have sayings that we say to ourselves and others going through hard and difficult time. And while the sentiments behind them may be true, until we have been on our knees and tapping into the presence of Jesus, to truly experience him as the source of our hope, we are missing out on this attribute of Jesus and what he wants to do in our lives and in our heart.

Because He is the Light of the World, We Have the Light of Life

There is another part of this “I Am” statement of Jesus in verse 12. There are some terms and conditions here that we need to be careful not to look past.

John 8:12 NIVUK84

12 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.”

“Whoever follows me...”

Jesus offers salvation and life to whoever follows him. Following is the language of discipleship. Jesus would promise his disciples that they would follow him to be where he is (13:36)

The language of discipleship reminded Jesus’ listeners that that obedience to God’s word ( 8:19, 29, 31-32, 51, 55) was essential to to being in the light (9:4-5).

The metaphor is extended to describe his followers in Matt. 5:14 It could be used here b/c they had received the light from Jesus and had obeyed him (John 8:31-47)

Contrast this language he uses here with his disciples verses the crowd and religious leaders - “You cannot go where I am going” (John 7:33-36 )

Matthew 5:14 NIVUK84

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

This call of discipleship is supposed to be blessing to us to discover and experience the full measure of the life God intended us to live.

This life of discipleship is to further form within our hearts and lives a representative of the attributes of God to the world around us.

As I mentioned earlier, the importance of the experience of hope is something we all need. We can’t manufacture it, we need to be tapped into the source, the very person of Jesus, to experience it truly, but to also share it genuinely.

A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind."

"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged."

"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"

Hope is also the perspective we hold as we have experienced life in Jesus. When we have experienced the faithfulness and goodness of God in all of our circumstances, we can look at what’s going on around and have a better - a right - perspective of not only our circumstances but of what God desires to do in them.

Following is essential to being in the light

We also need to look at this same statement of Jesus found in Chapter 9 John 9:1-5

John 9:1–5 NIVUK84

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His 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 work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Sounds identical to 8:12 - this phrase again connects the themes at the Feast of Tabernacles healing to this healing.

The connection of the theme of blindness into the proclamation that Jesus is the light of the world, the Gospel develops the metaphor in a different way.

Previously, Jesus used the metaphor of the light to describe how those who followed him would walk in the light. The light in that sense has lit their way. In the context of blindness though, it is just as possible that if one stood in opposition the the light, it would be blinding.

We may have encountered life in this way or may know people in our lives that are blind to the light of who Jesus is. Jesus opens the eyes of this blind man not just to perform another miracle but to testify of thew work of God.

The most miraculous work of God in anyone’s life is to restore someone’s sight to the reality of who Jesus is. As this story continues to unfold, we see this worked out in this man’s life. He testifies simply, no fancy theological education was necessary. He testified to the power of Jesus and the hope he now held.

This conversation continues with the the man

John 9:35–38 (NIVUK84)

John 9:35–38 NIVUK84

35 Jesus 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.” 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.

The conversation is much different with the Pharisees:

John 9:39–41 NIVUK84

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

They refused to see and acknowledge these things about Jesus.

It is up to us to testify faithfully and genuinely of what and who we have experienced.