The Light Defines
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “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
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. -John 8:58-59, NIV
“Terribly significant then is the final word of our chapter: the Savior “hid himself” from them, and went out of the temple. It is so still. From the self-righteous and self-sufficient but blinded religious formalists, Christ still hides Himself; those who deny that they need to be made free from the slavery of sin He still leaves to themselves.” -A.W. Pink
In the ritual celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles at the Temple, there were great lamps lit at night. These lights would burn as a reminder of the pillar of fire that served as a guiding light to the people of God during their wilderness wandering. It was the light that ultimately led them to the promised land. But, in the ritual, there was an additional act which was a solemn reminder of the turning of God’s people from His ‘light’ to the worship of the Sun (and other idols). Colin G. Kruse ends his commentary on John 8 relating this ceremony:
““It is ironic that at the Feast of Tabernacles ‘the Jews’ rejected Jesus and, as it were, turned their backs on him. The Mishnah describes of the daily rituals of this Feast: ‘When they [two priests] reached the gate that leads out to the east, they turned their faces to the west and said, “Our fathers when they were in this place turned their backs toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east; but as for us, our eyes are turned toward the Lord”’ (Sukkah 5:4) While their priests were dissociating themselves from their forefathers who turned their backs on the temple of the Lord and worshipped the Sun, ‘the Jews’ were turning their backs on the Lord himself as he visited them in the person of his Son.””
People often claim that Jesus never asserted to be God. Of course, Jesus’ central claim was to be God. It is this claim in fact that led to the crowd’s actions here. It is this claim that will be the charge upon which Jesus is condemned to death. The key question is not if Jesus claims to be God. The key question of course is if Jesus is God. If He is, then He must be followed, obeyed, worshipped. That there are now ‘churches’ organized around the thought that Jesus is one of many ways to God should not surprise us. It should break our hearts though. It is one thing to be blind and to come to see the Light. This is the necessary progression of anyone who would come to believe in Jesus and so become children of light. It is a far greater problem to claim to see but to be blind to the Light even as it shines upon you. This self-deception is what plays out in John 8 and then is given a living illustration in John 9. There is no greater tragedy. For without the Light, we are left with nothing but to stumble in the darkness.
Here is the tricky but necessary application: rid yourself of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-delusion. You and I dare not take one step without the illumination of Jesus. The Light of the world must define us.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. -John 9:39-41, NIV