This morning we are going to be moving on to chapter 8. And what an interesting chapter. An insight into who Jesus is… Not just in truth, but how he interacts with the leaders of the Jews.
For context let’s look at ch 7
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
I love the response from the men sent to arrest Jesus… No one ever spoke like this before… In other words, “We know that this man is too special to arrest... we can see it” There is something about him… The men on the ground understand that Jesus is who he says he is…
The leaders clearly want to kill Jesus… They want him gone… the religious leaders are the holders of the truth after all… they are the ones in the know and these uneducated people are believing Jesus… So irritating…
Jesus needs to walk carefully here because they will find any excuse to arrest him…. They have already sent guards to bring him in after all…
So does Jesus hide? Does he speak more gently? Does he try to persuade them? Does he lie low in the hill country in the small towns? NO!
Today’s discussion happens Right there in the Temple courts… He comes out with what appear to be a series of outrageous claims… some might think he is trying to stir things up…
Ch8 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.”
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus 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. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
19 Then 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.” 20 He 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.
There are a lot of words in this passage,but they all hinge around that first verse… “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
It might seem that Jesus is being provocative as the Jewish leaders thought that they were the light for everyone to follow… besides this statement is in effect claiming that he is God…
This Jesus, the lowly carpenter, from Galilee, friend of the fisher folk, is saying, that He is the light of the World… nothing could be more outrageous… in fact it is such an extreme claim, that these people who are trying to catch him in blasphemy… they miss the magnitude of it…
Let’s not miss the point ourselves this morning as we listen to the words of Jesus…
Jesus’ claim to be THE Light… not a light… THE light… has consequences…
The word light here comes from the word Phos… meaning a source of light… an emitter of light… This is important because we look around and see light everywhere… but this is mostly reflected light… certainly in Jesus day the only sources of light were the sun and a dull fire light…
Jesus is saying that he is the source of light… the… only source…
Without a source of light we are left with only darkness… darkness is defined by the absence of light…
Darkness is nothingness… and light is something…
There is no light without Jesus… without Jesus there is no illumination… nothing can be seen
He is saying that you clever people think you know what is happening, but you don’t… Without me you have no idea about truth…
We read a beautiful passage in Revelation 21 that one day this light will fill the World all darkness will be expelled… Things will be like they are meant to be…
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The opposite of this will be hell… where there will be no light at all nothing… Complete darkness… Because Jesus will not be there…
Without Jesus the World… our world… would be in complete darkness too…
By Jesus claiming to be the light. He is telling them that they are in darkness…
The choice is Jesus or darkness… this is a choice… everyone needs Jesus… everyone chooses Jesus …or …darkness
This is as true for us today as it was for those Jewish leaders. Jesus was giving those listening a choice… Follow me or live in darkness…
- Note that this light is not a foreign light… Jesus is not coming into some foreign place to see if he can sort our problems out…
The World was made for this light… at the beginning of time Jesus’ light filled the Earth… Sin brought darkness into the World, but darkness does not belong here… and darkness will be banished…
The light that Jesus brings allows us to see and access the World as it was meant to be… When the light is in our lives we get to see mountains and trees differently… we get the correct view of people and relationships… pain and joy… marriage and children… we see all these good things differently… The way God intended for it to be…
Jesus is also promising that people who follow him will have light in them and they will be wiser than the leaders of the day on all levels… once we have the light we can live life as it should be lived…
The light also exposes sin and evil… Is the world confused by these things? Are they not sure what is good and what is bad? Yes.
Is 50:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
With the light of Jesus this confusion does not exist… we can see things for what they are…
The light does not just expose the sin in the World but in our own lives too… Sin that has no place in the World God intended for us…
He says too that those who follow him will have the light of life… They possess the light … they will emit that light… Not only are our own lives exposed by the light so that we can see them clearly, but the light will illuminate those around us…
Christians are referred to as light in Matthew 5.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
I was reading on CNN yesterday morning - Scotty Schetler
These Jewish leaders miss what Jesus is saying about the light… he says something so profound… He is revealing a great truth on a divine level and they are trying to argue at a very basic, almost infantile level…
You baby…
They say, “ You say you are the Light, but you need someone else to testify to this or it doesn’t count… so there”
Jesus then makes the even bolder claim which also goes over their heads…
14 Jesus 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. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
My other witness is God the Father… He knows me and will testify on my behalf… Is that good enough for you?”
Again they missed what Jesus was saying…” He is claiming to be God and they are too small minded to get it…
They respond in verse 19 with , “Where is your Father?” but if we look at verse 18 Jesus says, “ my other witness is THE Father…” Jesus has claimed that The God is His Father, but they miss it…
To help them out further he personalises it and explains… “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
“Yes, The Father is my father too” I am God…. Jesus has very clearly given them enough evidence to have him killed. If this is not true then it is blasphemy… Punishable by death…
On top of that, Jesus is not saying these things in the wilderness somewhere surrounded by adoring followers… he is in the Temple courts… where the religious leaders feel at home surrounded by all the great minds of the day. Why don’t they arrest him… after all they had sent soldiers earlier to get him and they came back in awe and unable to do the job…
Because his time had not yet come… Perhaps, like Nicodemus and the soldiers in ch7 they see something in Him and his words that cause them to pause…
Jesus was not being difficult with the Jews, He was just being insistent that he is God… He was finding ways for them to understand this.
For us this is important because we are in an age where no one denies that Jesus lived, preached and had a following… His existence is not denied… it is his being God which is attacked… Islam, JW, Atheists… all happy to believe that Jesus was a good guy, just not God… This is always the stumbling block…
From vs 21 does seem like a different occasion…
Jesus makes another grand statement dripping with deep meaning. Which again the leaders miss, but the people seem to understand…
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
Jesus is very direct.
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
What do you hear when I read this? What stands out? You will die in your sins?
vs 22 tells us what they heard… 22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
I am going away… I might be killing myself… This is called wishful thinking..
Jesus then goes on to reiterate what he has just introduced…
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
Three times He says, “You will die in your sins”
They miss it again…25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.
What is wrong with them? These are intelligent people… and God is speaking to them
There is a psychological explanation for this… it is referred to as a phenomenon called COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
Cognitive means to do with thinking and Dissonance is to do with two things that don’t fit together… It is a disagreement between two or more beliefs held by a person at the same time…
When your beliefs and your actions don’t match up your body does not like it and you have to change one of them because it is too stressful to hold two views…
It is the Jewish leaders holding so strongly to what they have always believed that they choose to ignore the new evidence so that they don’t need to deal with it… It is the human condition that we try to reduce Cognitive Dissonance because it is uncomfortable… So we tend to change our thinking… even if it is irrational… to align it to our actions…
They are so stuck in there thinking that they have the answers that they don’t listen…. they are so self righteous that they don’t hear the refrain… ”You will die in your sins…”
What allows someone to eat junk food when it is clearly bad for them? Resolve CD- it has salad on it…
How does someone solve CD of spending money unnecessarily when they know that they need to save? I will earn more one day…
How does someone solve CD of not believing in God when the evidence is all around them? evolution is a thing…
How does a parent who knows that God’s ways are good for their children not believe themselves… contrary to evidence CD… I am doing this good thing for them
How do these leaders ignore that they will die in their sins…CD …They choose to argue silly technical points of law…
If you are someone who hears the truth that you are going to die in your sins… You know it to be true… How do you deal with the CD? God isn’t real? I’m just not there yet? A God of love would never condemn me? I am living a good life?
These things make us feel better about our rejection of God… but it is just that, a rejection of God and there are consequences…
Consequences… Grade 7? Holy spirit
What does it mean to die in their sins? “Where I am going you cannot come”… Jesus is going to heaven and they will not be able to go with him…
Is He not speaking clearly enough? Well he must be because it says:
28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
There were men and woman who heard Jesus Words… many… And they believed… they believed that He is the Light of the World
… the eyes of their hearts were opened
… they believed that He and the Father are one
… they believed that they would die in their sins without Jesus
… and they wanted to go with Him to were he was going…
Jesus speaks as clearly today as He did then…
Jesus, the light of the World.
