Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent, April 7, 2025

John 8, 12-20

Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because 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. You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone. And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid, because I am not alone, but it is I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men can be verified. I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.” So they said to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the treasury in the temple area. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

“I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  We should imagine Jesus speaking to the people in the vast Temple courtyard, the Temple itself towering over them, a veritable wonder of the world.  Around him stood Pharisees and scribes in their elaborate dress, perhaps some priests drawn by curiosity, and a crowd of ordinary people who had come to the Temple to offer sacrifices or to fulfill a vow.  And then Jesus himself, slightly disheveled from spending the night in prayer on the Mount of Olives, his clothes worn from his incessant travels and from sleeping on the ground in the fields or beside the road at night.  His strong Galilean accent marked him as a foreigner there in the heart of Judea.  But he had presence.  People felt his presence when he came amongst them.  And his face and voice were filled with conviction.  And no one ever spoke with such authority and certainty as he did.  And he said to one and all, “I am the Light of the world.”  

These words would naturally have brought to mind Psalm 27, 1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”  This was sung in the Temple and in the synagogues.  But here, this Galilean was calling himself “the Light of the world”.  How could any human do this?  Jesus is indeed declaring his divinity, that he is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1, 15).  But how strange this must have appeared to everyone looking on and listening!  And yet it was the only way to describe one who gave sight to the blind, restored health to the lame, healed lepers, drove out demons, and raised the dead — all of these deeds accomplished with a single word or two.  But to reconcile the man they saw with their eyes with the powerful works he performed took something more than analysis and argument.  It required faith.

The sun in the sky was the light of the earth.  It allowed people to see each other, to raise crops, to build houses, to live in safety.  The ancient people felt very keenly how necessary the sun was for life and every culture in the ancient world except for the Jews worshipped it.  Jesus calling himself the Light of the world means to teach that he alone provides truth and life: “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Only when the Lord Jesus is the center of our lives does the world and its workings make any sense.  Only through belief in Jesus can a person hope for more than we can see now with our limited mortal vision.