The Light of the World (John 8:12)

Sometimes we hear someone say something startling. When we look at them, we might think they are confused, even self-deceived. They may only say such a comment once. That is how some people reacted to Jesus, except in his case he continued to make unusual, indeed unheard off, claims about himself, which inevitably caused strong reactions. The ‘I am’ sayings are a set of unusual personal claims, except in his case they are true assertions that reveal who he is.

 

While these sayings may be startling, they are also simple statements in the sense that in most of them Jesus as the master communicator used straightforward illustrations and word pictures to say who he is and what he had come to do. When he said them, people could work out what he meant, although that did not mean that they believed him.

 

The important aspect of his teaching, whatever the topic, is that his words were spiritual. He taught about the things of the kingdom of God, including entering it as well as living in it in a wholehearted way.

 

The background

The context of this section of the Gospel of John is the annual Feast of Tabernacles held in Jerusalem. In the previous chapter of John, Jesus referred to an activity that occurred at that feast, when water collected from the Pool of Siloam was poured out at the temple, to say that he could meet the spiritual thirst of anyone who would trust in him. It is possible that now he uses another custom at that feast, which was the dousing of the lamps when the feast had ended, to say that he can give light that will never go out. We can imagine how the dousing of those lamps would be a sad experience for the Jews because it showed that the feast was over for another year.

 

It is also interesting that some regarded those lamps as symbols of the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness even when it was dark, and here Jesus speaks about himself leading those who trust in him through a dark world.

 

While that possibility is interesting, there are other ways of interpreting the statement. Some note that the term for ‘world’ can point to the organised sinfulness of the world against God, and we can see that Jesus has just enlightened a sinful woman about herself. The Pharisees could only condemn her because they had an ungracious view of truth, a view that did not shed light. But when Jesus shone his light on her, there was a different outcome.

 

Moreover, there were prophecies in the Old Testament which said that when the Messiah came, he would be a light for the Gentiles. ‘I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness’ (Isa. 42:6-7). Simeon, shortly after the birth of Jesus, had recognised in the temple that the baby was a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as being the glory of Israel (Luke 2:32).

 

There is an obvious allusion to the sun in the sky and it is interesting that Jesus had come to the temple early in the morning (v. 2), perhaps when the sun was rising, and those in the temple would see its effects in dismissing the darkness of the night. One sun in the sky lightens the world wherever people are.

 

Light was also a term used to describe God. The psalmist said that the Lord was his light and his salvation (Ps. 27:1). John says that ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all’ (1 John 1:5). So Jesus could be saying here that he is a divine person, one of the Trinity.

 

The possibility is there that Jesus had several ideas in mind when he described himself as the Light of the world.

 

The claim

As with other of the ‘I am’ sayings, John shows that Jesus says this one with great conviction. Literally, the statement is ‘I, I am the light of the world.’ John did not need to include the pronoun at the start of the sentence because it is also in the verb that can be translated as ‘I am.’ He so earnestly wanted his listeners to realise who he is, so he stressed what he said.

 

Jesus also says that he is the light of the world continually. The sun is an intermittent light, sometimes shining. The sun is not any further away from the earth during the hours of darkness, yet it does not shine in many places for several hours. In contrast, Jesus will shine wherever his people are in the world, and today that virtually means anywhere in the world.

Jesus also says that as the light of the world he is close by to sinners because they can follow him. That was the case obviously when he spoke these words in the temple. He still is near to sinners when the gospel is declared. The sun in the sky is far away – it provides a distant light, but Jesus is near to those who follow him. They are, each of them, right behind him as they follow him and see and hear the light that he gives them.

 

Moreover, Jesus says that the light he gives is clear and dispels any darkness that affect his followers. Of course, we need to bear in mind what he means. He is not speaking about circumstantial darkness that occurs when trouble comes, and disciples want to know why it has happened. Rather, he is referring to spiritual darkness, to the blindness that has occurred because of sin.

 

The Saviour also says that he is a common light in the sense that he is available for all kinds of people whoever they are, wherever they live and whenever they live. No one can deduce that they are not welcome to follow him provided they do so on his terms.

 

The darkness

Because we have streetlights we do not often think of walking in darkness for long distances. People in Jesus’ time, and before and after it, would have appreciated the meaning of the illustration. Jesus teaches in this verse that life without God is a life of spiritual blindness, that wherever a person goes he only travels in the darkness of sin.

 

One of the ironic terms of the nineteenth century was to speak of darkest Africa. People living in Europe assumed that those in Africa did not know anything about God and his grace while the sad fact was that most people in Britain and other European countries were as much in spiritual darkness as those they so described. No doubt, there are various kinds of darkness, but spiritual darkness describes billions of people on earth today.

 

No doubt we have heard stories of people who worked in dark mines and found it difficult to see clearly in daylight. The darkness of the mines had affected their vision. That is like people who live in the atmosphere of spiritual death, who exist apart from God. Perhaps if you have been in a dark cave or a dark room, you will see what Jesus says about walking in darkness. Yet that is only half of the problem because not only do they live in a dark place spiritually, but they also have spiritual darkness within them. Even if light comes into the dark cave or room, their inner darkness remains. That is why they cannot appreciate the conversion of a sinner until Jesus takes away their own darkness. When he does, they see things clearly.

 

So we have a double darkness – darkness outside us and darkness inside us. When we believe the gospel, we discover that both the internal and the external darkness has been dealt with. We can see that Jesus is the Saviour to trust in and we can see that we now belong to a kingdom of which he is the head, and which has different demands and a different destiny from the kingdom of the world.

 

The difference

We should see the order given here. First, the disciple has life and from that life he receives light. What does that order tell us? It tells us that their must be contact with Jesus before there will be light in our experience. We can imagine a person hearing Jesus say that he is the light of the world and making various assessments of Jesus. That person could even say true things about Jesus. Yet he may not have contacted Jesus through repentance and faith. There must be a beginning to the spiritual life, even if sometimes a person does not know exactly when that happened.

 

Take the examples in the incident that precedes this statement. The Pharisees had their wrong motives in asking Jesus to condemn the woman. Jesus knew what was in their hearts. Not only did he know their motives, but he also knew their sins. Is that not the point of him writing words on the ground? Did he list some of the sins of which they were guilty? Whatever happened, he convicted them of their sins. Yet their response was to stay in the darkness and leave the presence of Jesus unchanged.

 

The woman was different. She knew she was a sinner, but she also recognised that she was in the presence of the Saviour as we can see from the way she addressed him when she referred to him as Lord. Her confession showed that she had spiritual life and Jesus recognised this was the case when he told her to live differently from how she had been living. Having new life, she also had spiritual light.