The incident in bold above is from John’s eyewitness first century biography of Jesus. Three words in the original Greek are repeated – and again repeated above in the English version. Let’s take a look. They may be clues to follow.
Light. Noun repeated twice.“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” These were terribly arrogant words, weren’t they? What on earth – what in the world then and now- has a need for light to be shone upon it? Often people’s deeds are hidden. Even more often their motivations are hidden.
These days we have the news media zealous to give us light but somehow we still don’t see the real facts. Also, although we have fantastic social media, we don’t have the real light about others, do we?
Nevertheless, how arrogant of this man to say, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And what did he mean by “the light of life”?
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To testify and testimony. Verb repeated four times; noun repeated three times. The Pharisees were apparently rigid – regarding words. Their law, dating back to 1350 BC, stated, “… no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.” They saw no independent testimony to Jesus’ testimony that he was the light of the world. Therefore, they said that this his testimony was not true. Think about it. It was unconfirmed – but was it necessarily untrue? How good were they at judging correctly?
To see. Verb repeated five times. Jesus responded, “Even if I do testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I see where I came from and where I am going but you do not see where I came from or where I am going.” Then he adds, “You see neither me nor my Father. If you saw me, you would see my Father also.” Without light, one can’t see.
To judge and judgment. Verb repeated three times; noun repeated twice. Jesus said, “You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. And yet if I did judge, my own judgment is true, because I am not alone but I and the Father who sent me.” The Pharisees were heavily engaged in judging others. But they couldn’t avoid judging biased by their own “flesh”. They had just misused the law in judgment of Jesus. Unlike them, Jesus - if he did judge - would have the Father’s righteousness and complete knowledge of all the circumstances. And he wouldn't misuse the law. True judgment.
Father. Noun repeated three times. The judging Pharisees judged that Jesus’ reference to his Father must be judged to be a reference to the one who made Mary, his mother, pregnant, thirty years or so earlier. They were right, of course. When they asked, “Where is your Father?” they were judging his apparent illegitimacy. The truth was that his Father had, by his Holy Spirit, caused Mary to be with child.
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‘Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness.’ (Thomas Adams, minister, 1583-1653)
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Light. “I am the light of the world.” Testimony. "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Sight.“You see neither me nor my Father." Judgment. “You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.” Father. "If you saw me, you would see my Father also.”
John writes: These words he spoke at the valuables vault, as he taught in the temple; and no one stopped him, because his hour had not yet come. The Temple had a secured vault for offerings and other valuables. The light wasn’t there. When Jesus’ hour came they stopped him by crucifiction. Then there was light.
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