I Am the Light of the World

I Am the Light of the World

John 8:12–59

We said last week that the backdrop for John chapter 7 and John chapter 8 (and probably even John chapter 9) is the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, one of the seven Jewish feasts, and one of the three major feasts which brought Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem.

I thought it might be helpful to return to the headwaters of the Feast of Tabernacles in the book of Leviticus briefly to see what God originally designed the Feast of Tabernacles to be all about:

So it’s clear from those verses in Leviticus that the Feast of Tabernacles was a harvest feast, and the harvest in question in the seventh month of the year was for the fruit of trees and the vine.

Secondly it’s clear from these verses in Leviticus that the Feast of Tabernacles was to be a time of rejoicing—See the words “rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days” in verse 40 and the word ‘celebrate’ used twice in verse 41. The people were commanded to rejoice at the feast.

And thirdly everyone—at least all native Israelites—was to live in temporary shelters or booths commemorating God’s care and provision during the wilderness wanderings. They were to remember God’s provision in the past.

Over time the Feast of Tabernacles took on symbolic ceremonies and these ceremonies became central to the way the Feast was celebrated. If you were with us last week in John 7, we briefly discussed the “water pouring ceremony” which occurred once a day on the first six days of the feast of Tabernacles and 7 times on the seventh day.

During this ‘water pouring ceremony’ priests and pilgrims would leave the temple area--center right on the slide behind me-- proceed down to the pool of Siloam –lower left on the slide--and fill a golden pitcher with water and then while dancing and singing return to the temple. The people would be celebrating. The shofar would be blown when the Watergate was reached. The men and boys would be singing Psalms 113-118[1]. The priests would be processing around the altar.

“Every man and boy shook the lulab (a bunch of willow and myrtle tied with palm) with his right hand and held aloft citrus fruit in his left hand ( a sign of the harvest gathered in) and the cry “Give thanks to the Lord” was repeated three times. And in front of the crowd the priest would pour out the water onto the altar of burnt offering.

Well John 7 tells us that Jesus stood up on the final day of the feast, the great day of the feast and cried out “If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said—out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

And we said that Jesus in a very real sense was saying “I am the fulfillment of all of this.”

“I am the fulfillment of the water pouring ceremony”…”I am the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles”.

We know that in a very real sense Jesus was present in the wilderness wanderings back in Exodus and Numbers. 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that. We know that Jesus, as he revealed himself to those in the temple 2000 years ago, was aware of their thirst for God which could only be met by the indwelling Holy Spirit. And we know that Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of the prophetic pictures of water streaming from the altars in a messianic future.

Well as we pick up in chapter 8, verse 12 this morning—and it seems that the woman caught in adultery story, John 7:53-8:11, is a sort of interruption into this scene with Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders in the temple—as we pick up in chapter 8, verse 12 this morning, the setting is the same as it was in John 7. Jesus is conversing with the religious leaders in the temple area. They continue to misunderstand him. It’s as if he’s transmitting on an FM radio station and they’re trying to receive his message on an AM radio station. It’s as if He’s speaking French and they hear only in Spanish. In chapter 8, like chapter 7, Jesus will continue to reveal his true identity and the people will mutter, mutter, and mutter again. But by the end of the chapter, it’s clear however that communication finally takes place because the Jews pick up stones to throw at Jesus. So that’s what we’re building to at the end of chapter 8—in the minds of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus will be guilty of blasphemy.

Follow with me as I begin in John 8, verse 12…

12Again Jesus spoke to them, saying—now if the woman caught in adultery story interrupts the flow of the story, when was the last time Jesus spoke? We have to go back to verses 37-38 in chapter 7 when Jesus stood up in the temple and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty let him come to me”… So here in John 8 again Jesus spoke to them saying… “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”

Reading what happens between verse 12 and 13, I can’t help but see the Jewish religious leaders in black and white referee shirts and white pants. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world”, verse 12, …and the Pharisees pull their penalty flag… “Infraction… Bearing witness about oneself, 15 yard penalty from the line of offense!”…. and they seem to completely disregard what Jesus has said.

14Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Notice, there in verse 20, Jesus spoke these words in the treasury. Make a mental note of that. More on that in a minute.

Well back to verse 12, Again Jesus spoke to them saying “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Another incredible claim by Jesus! He is not just the bread of life, the bread that gives life (John 6:35). He is the light of the world.

This is the second “I am” statement of Jesus in the book of John followed by an assertion of who Jesus is.[2] We’ll encounter five more:

I am the gate (John 10:7, 9)

I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)

I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)

I am the way, the truth, and the life (Joh 14:6)

I am the true vine (John 15:1,5)

Notice Jesus doesn’t say a light of the world, but the light of the world. And He is not just the light of Jerusalem or Israel or of the Jews but of the world—where the world refers to all of mankind who live in darkness. You can’t be more expansive than that! He is the light that the world needs!

Whoever follows me (don’t miss the importance of following Jesus in a dark world) Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”…the followers of Jesus will not only not walk in darkness, but will have the light which produces life.[3]

Look back at the last verse of John 7… Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. We laughed a bit last week when we noted ironically that Nahum and Jonah the prophets did come from Galilee. Well there’s more irony here…the prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 9 that there will be a great light that comes from Galilee…listen to the end of Isaiah 9:1 and verse 2… He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.[4] And who is that great light from Galilee? Jesus.

Well interestingly enough it turns out there was a ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles that could be the backdrop for Jesus’ audacious words, I am the light of the world.[5] It was a lighting ceremony that took place in the Court of the Women in the temple. Let’s locate the Court of the Women on a depiction of the temple complex.

{On this slide we’re looking down at the temple complex. The Holy of Holies is to the left. And you can see the smoke coming off the altar in the lower middle of the slide. And you can see the Court of Women labeled. It turns out the treasury was in the court of the women….and we said you remember that verse 20 tells us that Jesus spoke these words in the treasury.[6] In the Court of the Women there were 13 money chests in the shape of shofars where pilgrims could designate their giving.}

Well in this lighting ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles, there were four seventy-five foot tall stands which each held four golden bowls.[7] These sixteen golden bowls (reached by ladders) were filled with oil and listen to this…they used the worn undergarments of the priests for wicks (m. Sukkah 5).

“Some sources attest that this went on every night of the Feast of Tabernacles, with the light from the temple area shedding it’s glow all over Jerusalem”[8]

In a world that did not have public lighting after dusk, this light shining from Jerusalem’s yellow limestone walls must have been spectacular. Choirs of Levites would sing during the lighting while “men of piety and good works” danced in the streets, carrying torches and singing hymns.

One writer says this, “Imagine the scene! In the very court where the lighting ceremony takes place, Jesus stands beneath sixteen lit bowls of oil and says that he is not only the true light of Jerusalem, but of the whole world!”

Now this isn’t the first time that ‘light’ is used to describe the work of Christ in John. In the very beginning of John’s gospel we read these lines… John 1:4–5 (ESV) 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Interestingly enough, “light” is used to describe the work of Christ sixteen times in the book of John, but here in John 8 the theme disappears as quickly as it came up. And Jesus’s self-reference to himself being the light of the world is quickly challenged, verse 13. 13So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”

This issue came up back in John 5 where Jesus was forced to give witnesses to his identity—He offered John the Baptist as a witness, He offered His own works and miracles, He offered the the scriptures and he offered the Father as a witness to his identity. Here in verse 14, his response is somewhat veiled but it seems that he is appealing to His unity with the Father as his witness—I know where I came from and where I am going[9]

Verse 15…15You judge according to the flesh…in other words you see my flesh but never contemplate that I could be the word made flesh.[10] You judge with human standards. I judge no one that way, Jesus says. I never appeal to fleshly criteria in my judgment. 16Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

So again Verse 15… You judge according to human standards, what you can see with your eyes. I judge no one that way, Jesus says and then Verse 16, Yet even if I do judge—and I will be the judge at the end of time—my judgment is true because I’m not alone when I judge—the Father judges with me.

Continuing in verse 17….17In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

When the religious leaders ask ‘Where is your father?” they are basically saying “You say you have a witness…show us your witness….Produce this witness who supposedly bears witness about you!” Their question, however, Jesus says, reveals that they are outside the fellowship of both Jesus and his father. If they really knew Jesus and if his words did not sound strange and presumptuous in their ears, they would not ask, “Where is your Father?”[11] If they knew Jesus, they would know his Father also.

20These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. ….His hour had not yet come… we’ve heard that before… we heard back in John 7:30. Yes Jesus has an appointment with death but it will not come early or come late. It will come at just the right time.