"I Am the Light of the World"

Scene 1/ Sometimes people just can’t get it – usually because their view of the world prevents them from seeing something differently.

Perhaps there is an opportunity to move forward, but the fear of something new is simply too great, so the person never takes the risk and misses out on starting an exciting new chapter to their life.

One of the things that you learn in ministry is that for some people, the pain of what they know is less than the fear of the unknown.

So when you show them a path out of their current situation they won’t take it.

I still find that frustrating.

But as I have come to understand that the world & people are broken, I have come to see why it is hard for people to do things differently.

An example might be the cultural mindset, which is especially prevalent in some parts of the USA, that if you are poor then you simply haven’t tried hard enough to fix your problem.

After all, the American dream means everyone can make it.

While there is an element of truth to that in many situations it isn’t THE truth.

Often circumstances, ethnicity and your own peer group pulling you back make it almost impossible to rise above the dysfunction.

We have similar mindsets in our own culture.

The tall poppy syndrome & the great Australian dream.

The two have an element of being mutually exclusive.

Tell a person that they should make it, but at the same time if they do they are torn down as being self serving.

Perhaps it is a philosophical mindset that stops a person from seeing something new.

They might be so schooled in an evolutionary outlook that any idea of a creator God is incomprehensible.

Or perhaps it is a theological mindset.

Many people have enormous concerns about the teachings of the Catholic Church or the liberalism of some elements of the Anglican and Uniting church.

So they lump everyone within those churches in the same heretical pot; even though there are many very fine Christians who are holding the line and preaching the gospel in word and deed.

Scene 2/ This was the problem with the Pharisees, their world view simply meant that they weren’t prepared to accept something different.

Have a look at John 8:13

John 8:13 NLT

13 The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”

We have to ask, why this view?

Why did they dismiss Jesus and become so hostile towards him?

In this instance they dismissed Jesus because his claim didn’t fit their legal formula.

The Old Testament law, in Deuteronomy 19:15, didn’t allow a person to be convicted on the testimony of only one witness.

But the Pharisees went much further than this and immediately react to Jesus claim declaring it invalid.

Colin Kruse sums this up nicely in the Tyndale commentary.

“According to rabbinic teaching, testimony to oneself was not valid in law; only testimony by another could be accepted.

In the Mishnah, for example, we read, ‘So, too, if there were two men and one said, “I am a priest”, and the other said, “I am a priest”, they may not be believed; but when they testify thus of each other they may be believed’ (Ketubot 2:7). The Pharisees accused Jesus of bearing testimony to himself.[1]”

Here you can see the mindset of this group.

Two Priests standing next to each other can each say, “I am a priest” the two standing together saying this cannot be believed.

But if each says about the other, he is a priest then they can be believed.

Jesus just wouldn’t fit into their mould.

On a larger scale they had already made up their minds.

Jesus had often claimed to not only be the messenger from God, but to actually be the message.

A claim that for them just went too far.

They wanted a great reformer who would impose strict observance of their understanding of the law as a sign of God’s favour.

Jesus just wasn’t interested, all too often he broke their rules.

He criticized them and told them that their view of God was simply wrong.

He wouldn’t fit into their box and he challenged their authority, power and privileged position in society.

So everything he said was going to be challenged.

It is like their idea of the Messiah was all wrapped up in a neat little gift box.

Perfectly folded corners.

Black & white checked paper.

A white ribbon perfectly tied on top.

And once they had spent an incredible amount of time perfectly wrapping this box they climbed up a ladder and placed it up on the top shelf.

Whenever someone came along and said, “I am the Messiah” the Religious leaders would look at the person, look at the box and say.

“No you are not in the box; therefore you cannot be the Messiah.”

And if you came along on the Sabbath and said “I am the Messiah”, their response would be,

“Even if you are the Messiah, which you can’t be because you are not in the box, we couldn’t even check if you are because it is the Sabbath and it would be a sin to do the work of climbing the ladder to check that you are not in the box on the Sabbath.”

This would of course leave the claimant to being the Messiah a little confused.

When the Apostle John wrote his account of Jesus life he was an old man.

John was the last of the 12 disciples and he probably wrote as late as 90 years after Jesus’ was born.

John had seen the opposition of the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees and the Chief Priests towards the Lord.

He had personally experienced and led the church through the ongoing persecution so often stirred up by these people.

He had seen the destruction of the temple in AD 70 which Jesus had foretold in John 2:19 at the beginning of his ministry, after he had driven the money changers out of the temple.

He had seen the opposition of the religious leaders grow from this time forwards.

As Jesus’ closest friend John knew better than anyone the awesome claims of his Lord and the entrenched opposition which he faced.

He knew the truth of Christ’s claim to focus on himself and his light so that you can know God instead of darkness.

Scene 3/ When Jesus proclaimed “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12, NLT)

It was the Feast of Tabernacles.

His words were layered with incredible meaning.

Jewish literature was generous with the title “light of the world,”

This term was applied to the nation of Israel.

The city of Jerusalem, the Patriarchs, the Messiah, God and even to famous Rabbis and the law.

It is always used to speak of something of ultimate significance. [2]

When Jesus made this statement he had something more immediate in mind.

During the feast of Tabernacles, the people would literally camp on the roof tops and around the city in shelters to represent their leaving Egypt and camping in the wilderness.

There was an incredible celebration held each night. [3]

Four enormous candelabra were placed in the temple courts.

Each was kept feed by 4 youths who would climb ladders to continually pour oil into them.

Their light could be seen across the city and in the surrounding hills.

There would be dancing and singing, the senior male leaders would dance before the people with lighted torches in their hands.

These candelabra represented the glory cloud & pillar of fire in the wilderness.

They represented the light of creation before the Lord created the sun and moon. .[4]

Each morning as the dawn approached two priests would slowly descend the steps, turn around and face the temple and declare.

“Our fathers who were in this place turned their backs to the temple of God and their faces eastward and threw themselves down eastward before the sun; but we direct our eyes to Yahweh”.

Then the people would call out in response We are Yahweh’s, and our eyes are directed to Yahweh!’ [5]

Clearly this incredible celebration pointed to the Yahweh as light and salvation.

Jesus took this incredible event with all its symbolism.

He didn’t just claim to point to this light.

He didn’t just claim to have some knew information about the light.

He claimed that he is the light.

Clearly this is a claim to deity.

The people had seen before them the symbolic representation of Yahweh as light.

Jesus is now saying he is that light.

John clearly understood Jesus in this way because he writes in the first five verses of this gospel.

John 1:1–5 NLT

1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

And he repeats this exact theme in his letter known as 1 John.

And in Revelation.

In these words Jesus is claiming to be Yahweh, he is also claiming to be the servant of the Lord spoken about in Isaiah 42:6 , the one who is the symbol of God’s covenant and the light who will be his guide. [6]

Isaiah 42:6 NLT

6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations.

The confirmation of this intention to claim the attributes of divinity by saying “I Am the light of the world” can be seen in John 8:58.

When Jesus said, Before Abraham was born “I AM”

Conclusion

When we see Jesus from his perspective we will see God as he truly is, light, love, hope.

Read 1 John 1:1-7

So let’s focus firstly on Christ’s claims over our life and then the world can be seen as it really is.

[1] Kruse, C. G. (2003). John: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 4, pp. 201–202). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [2] Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Jn 8:12). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [3] Beasley-Murray, G. R. (2002). John (Vol. 36, pp. 127–128). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. [4] Pfeiffer, C. F., & Harrison, E. F. (Eds.). (1962). The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Jn 8:12). Chicago: Moody Press. [5] Beasley-Murray, G. R. (2002). John (Vol. 36, pp. 127–128). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. [6] Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Jn 8:12). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.