The Feast of Tabernacles, that week-long
celebration of the harvest, was the most joyous of the Jewish feasts. In fact, the celebrations went well into the
night. The court of the women, where
Jesus was standing in John 8, was the scene of part of that celebration. During the Feast four huge candelabra were
erected in the court of the Temple.
These were so large that ladders had to be used to fill their bowls with
oil. As night approached the priests lit
the candelabra. This rite, called “The
Illumination of the Temple” was to remind the people of the pillar of fire that
accompanied the nation during its years of wandering through the
wilderness. It’s said that the light was
so great that it illuminated every courtyard in Jerusalem.
“Then all
night long,” one writer says, “until cock-crow the next morning, the greatest
and the wisest and the holiest men in Israel danced before the Lord and sang
psalms of joy and praise while the people watched.”
It was in this context that Jesus made one of the
well-known “I am” statements recorded in John’s Gospel (8:12). Perhaps the light of the candelabra had just
been extinguished or had just burned out, when Jesus declared, "I am the
light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life."
A World Engulfed in
Darkness
In making this claim, Jesus begins with a crucial
assumption, one with which the Scribes and Pharisees would have agreed. He begins with the assumption that our world
is in the grip of spiritual darkness--the absence of spiritual light.
Evidence of this is found in our widespread
confusion about God. It is found in the
attitude that prefers to see you and me as the accidental offspring of pond
scum, rather than as individuals made in the image of God. It is found in the absolute assertion that
there are no absolutes, no true truth, no moral morality--for all moral schemes
are at root one group’s attempt to impose its values on another. Evidence of this darkness is found in the
epidemic of child abuse, which makes every parent and grandparent wary of every
stranger, uneasy during every trip to the mall or the corner grocery. But, of course, that darkness has made the
mall a place where any one of us might face the wrath of some fanatic who has
confused the whispers of his own hatred with the voice of God.
The Bible tells us this darkness is evidence of sin. It tells us that this darkness fell across
the earth when the first man and woman chose to rebel against their benevolent
Creator. The Scribes and Pharisees would
have agreed that the world was full of such spiritual darkness; they would not
have agreed that the rabbi from Nazareth was the Light that would overcome that
darkness.
They were far too concerned with his pedigree, too
concerned that he came from the wrong place, that his origins were so humble,
if not scandalous. In verse 41 they seem
to hint that Jesus was illegitimate.
Perhaps they had heard something of the strange circumstances
surrounding his birth and jumped to the conclusion that Mary had been sexually
immoral. Of course, his relentless
exposure of their hypocrisy so angered and threatened them that they were
willing to hurl any charge at him. In
the debate that followed Jesus’ claim to be the Light of the World they say,
“You are a Samaritan and have a demon.”
In calling Jesus a Samaritan they were saying,
"You don't even have the right to call yourself a Jew. You're an outsider, a half-breed." Could this be a second reference to questions
regarding Jesus' paternity? In any case,
they were trying to invalidate what Jesus was saying by associating him with a
group of people who would have been despised by most of the people listening to
him that day.
Today, some people feel they can
ignore Jesus because they claim he is a “western” Savior. That’s’ no more of a valid charge than the
charge that he was a Samaritan.
[Christianity spread through much of
Asia and northern Africa long before it became the dominant religion of
Europe. In fact, at the beginning of the
eighth century there were more Christians east of Damascus than west of that
city. Still, some reject Christianity on
the grounds it is a western religion. It
is a poor argument.]
The second insult, "you have a demon," is
another charge made in an attempt to discredit what Jesus said; in fact, it
would have cast what he was saying as coming from Satan.
All of this was rooted in their refusal to accept
Jesus as the One who was bringing the light of God to a world in spiritual
darkness.
Just what was Jesus claiming for himself? Jesus claimed He embodied the light that
shines on the whole world to bring life.
The Source of the Light
Jesus said, “I am the light…” The light was not the teachings of Jesus,
important as they were; Jesus, himself, was the light. Jesus burst into the dark world like a
blazing star. John reminded us of this
in the Prologue of his Gospel. Speaking
of the Word that became flesh, John said,
In him was life, and that life
brought light to humanity.
And the light shines on in the
darkness,
and the darkness has never put
it out. (John 1:4-5)
It’s impossible to overstate the place of Jesus in
Christianity.
As W. H. Griffith-Thomas said “Christianity is
Christ.” Critics from the first-century
onward have chafed at that notion. It’s
been called the “scandal of particularity,” the notion that God chose to reveal
himself through one Person, Jesus Christ, has been a source of offense to all
those who believe that they, not God, should determine how he should relate to
the world.
John’s Gospel stresses the centrality of Jesus in
God’s self-revelation and his plan to bring salvation to the world. To the extent the church forgets the
significance of Jesus, it losses its impact on the world.
What the authorities refused to accept are the very
matters that should be at the center of our efforts to explain who Jesus is.
The controversy following Jesus’ claim to be the
Light of the world underscored several clues to his identity. He was one who could call God “Father” because
he has a relationship with God unparalleled by that of any other person. He was one who could claim to be sinless with
the utter confidence that is most rabid critics would be unable to refute his
claim. He was one who could promise true
spiritual freedom in a world of spiritual slavery. He was one who could insist that obedience to
his teaching is the factor which ultimately determines our relationship with
God.
The high point of the debate occurred after Jesus
claimed he possessed the power to defeat death.
Jesus’ opponents challenged him by asking if he was greater than
Abraham. Abraham had died, so Jesus’
claim to be able to defeat death implied he thought himself greater than the
man considered the father of the Jewish people.
Are you greater than Abraham? Jesus' response was essentially, "Now
you're getting it."
The next few months may be interesting,
politically. We’ve already had one
candidate claim to have seen a UFO. [Remember this sermon was preached in 2008; so
far as I know, none of the 2016 candidates has an opinion on aliens—at least of
the outer space variety.] Now, imagine,
in this coming election year, one of the candidates saying, "George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln rejoiced when they knew I was to be
born." Such a statement would have
made us question the candidate's sanity or make him the object of our scorn and
ridicule.
The authorities seem to do that. There may have been a note of sarcasm in what
they said, making the Living Bible paraphrase worth note: "You aren't even fifty years old--sure,
you've seen Abraham!" The
statement, though framed as a question, is intended to be a challenge.
Jesus’ next words stunned the critics. While what Jesus said may seem awkward or
ungrammatical to us, it was a deliberate use of a term that every Jew would
have recognized.
Those Jews would have remembered when God called
Moses to lead the enslaved Jews out of Egypt to freedom. Moses was reluctant. The story is found in Exodus 3:13-14.
Then Moses said to God,
"If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I
say to them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am."
And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'"
Reaching back into the Old Testament, Jesus used
the divine name (I AM) in reference to himself.
This was not a claim to be "older" than Abraham, this was a
claim to be God.
This is the one who embodied the light.
The Scope of the Light
“I am the light of the world,” Jesus said. Jesus’ light would not extend merely to the
courtyards of Jerusalem, it would shine throughout the world.
The salvation Jesus brought would benefit the whole
world, not just his own people.
Soon after his resurrection those who had placed
their faith in Jesus would break out of the boundaries of Judea and carry the
story of Jesus to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Christianity is a missionary religion founded by a
Missionary. Sadly, some who claim to be
followers of Christ now tell us that the missionary enterprise, the enterprise
which built the church, in wrong. They
tell us that we have no right to try to change anyone, that it is the height of
pride to “invade” another culture with our religion, regardless of our good
intentions.
Yet, Jesus never intended his light to be covered
by the bushel of uncritical multiculturalism.
Jesus intended his followers to carry the light into every dark corner
of the world.
The Light which Brings Life
Until recently we had a large tree in our back
yard. It stood some 65 to 70 feet high
and was probably around a century old. A
lot of life had happened around that tree in a century. Still, the tree posed some problem. To begin with, we weren’t sure it was
safe. And several experts told us we
would never be able to grow much in the back yard because of the tree. So, we had it cut down.
We noticed a difference almost immediately. Our house had more sunlight pouring through
the windows. Potted plants near that
window seemed to perk up and bask in the sun.
We are eager to see what will happen next spring as the new growing
season comes around. That tree had been
blocking the life-giving sunlight.
The light Jesus brings gives life. The New Living Bible translates Jesus’ words
as, “you will have the light that leads to life." Yet, sometimes something happens to block
that light.
v We
may block the light with our fears and timidity. This is a special danger in an age when any
excitement about our faith is considered fanaticism. We find it easier to keep quiet about our
commitment than to risk ridicule. Jesus
described this as hiding our light under a “bucket.”
v We
may block the light by living without integrity. Hypocrisy gives every Christian a bad
name. Sometimes that hypocrisy is widely
known. Remember a few years ago when Ray
Stevens sang:
Woke up this mornin' turned on my TV set
There in livin' color was somethin' I can't forget
This man was preachin' at me.. yeah.. layin' on the
charm
Asking me for 20 with 10,000 on his arm
He wore designer clothing and a big smile on his face
Selling me salvation while they sang Amazing Grace
Asking me for money when he had all the signs of
wealth
Almost wrote a check out.. yeah.. but then I asked
myself…
Would He wear a pinky ring, would He drive a fancy car
Would His wife wear furs and diamonds, would His
dressing room have a star
If he came back tomorrow there's something I'd like to
know
Would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show
Whether it is a “big name” Christian or the racist
Sunday school teacher who works in the next cubicle, Christians who don’t live
with integrity block the life-giving light.
v We
may block the light when we embrace a worldview that says all religions are
alike, all of them lead to the same place.
When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” he wasn’t saying he was
one of several lights, all of them equally bright.
v We
may block the light when we think that we don’t have the capacity to be
light-bearers because of our personalities or lack of knowledge. Jesus understands we are different. He doesn’t expect everyone to be the
same. Each of us spreads our light in
our own way. We just need to remember,
the darkness is so intense that any light helps.
Conclusion
Not everyone in the first century could handle
Jesus’ claims, not everyone in the twenty-first century can handle them. It’s a reminder of how our world is engulfed
in darkness.
If you’re confused about God, uncertain about the
way to spiritual life, you need the Light Jesus brings.
If you’ve benefited from the Light Jesus brings,
share that light with someone else.
