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Again Jesus spoke to them, 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 are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for 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 according to the flesh; I do not judge any person. Yet even if I might judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. John 8: 12-20 |
This claim of Jesus has all the appearance of extreme arrogance: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
C S Lewis, the writer of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” wrote this about Jesus. “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” |
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‘It takes a radical break to turn from earth’s trash to heaven’s treasure.’ (Vance Havner, speaker and writer, 1902-1986)
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The above (in bold) extract from John’s eye-witness first-century biography of Jesus not only records his staggering statement. No wonder he was opposed by the Pharisees who were intelligent, religious, politically-aware community leaders. They said that, because his statement (“I am the light of the world”) was not independently confirmed, it was a lie.
But Jesus drew attention to the fact that an unverified statement may not be untrue – it is merely unverified. “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for 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.”
Did the Pharisees need some light? They had definitely judged Jesus to be a liar – and given a spurious reason. Moreover, Jesus then said (rightly?): "You judge according to the flesh; I do not judge any person. Yet even if I might judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone but I and the Father who sent me.” Oops! The Pharisees had judged him, as a person, to be a liar – and had done that according to their “justice” system.
But he doesn’t judge people at all – not on that or any other basis. If he did, he would not be joined by three Jurats (all human beings) but by his Father who sent him. Is it only certain people who need light – does Richard Syvret need it as well?
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‘He did not come to judge the world/ He did not come to blame/ He did not only come to seek/ It was to save He came.’ (Hymn)
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Then Jesus directly addresses the reason they gave for judging him to be a liar. “In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” The key question which arises here is, “Why didn’t he get someone “visible” to testify for him – other than this rather esoteric “the Father who sent me”?”
I fear that the answer may well be that there was no human being around who could see. No person with the light. The light which the whole world needs was only just becoming visible to human beings, none of whom were following Jesus.
Only his Father, who sent him, could provide testimony as to the truth of Jesus’ statement: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Without this light, we all judge him worthless.
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