12 Later, Jesus talked to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.”
13 The Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say these things are true. We cannot accept what you say.”
14 Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself, but they are true. I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards. I am not judging anyone. 16 But when I do judge, I judge truthfully, because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, you must accept what they say. 18 I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself, and the Father who sent me is the other witness.”
19 They asked, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father, too.” 20 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple, near where the money is kept. But no one arrested him, because the right time for him had not yet come.
Read John 8:12-20 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
Part way through Jesus’ ministry, Jesus shared a brief glimpse of His mission with a group of people present with Him. In what Jesus shares, we can learn what Jesus came to do and what He didn’t come to do – which happened to be different from what the religious leaders in that culture believed Jesus was doing.
To set the stage, John’s gospel describes Jesus opening by saying, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.” (v. 12)
While the Pharisees didn’t like the claims Jesus makes in this verse, what Jesus describes here is pretty powerful when we stop to think about it.
The first phrase Jesus says is simply, “I am the light of the world.” While Jesus’ statement is up for debate depending on who you talk to, this phrase is how Jesus describes Himself – which is important. While people throughout that culture had different views of Jesus, when we read this, we see how Jesus preferred to be seen.
To follow this phrase up, Jesus tells those present that “The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.” Part of me wonders what Jesus means when He says this. Does following Jesus literally mean that we will never experience dark points in our lives from this point forward?
Answering this question is tricky because there are plenty of cases in all our lives we could call dark or low points. However, I wonder if Jesus spoke this promise to help frame the people who follow Him always having something to look for and forward to. As followers of Jesus, we can always be looking for the ways He is moving in the world today, and we can always look forward to the promise of the second coming and heaven in our future.
Jesus gives light to our world because He came to show us a loving picture of God. By following Jesus and obeying His teachings, we are able to see God through new eyes and we see light where others see darkness – we see hope when others can only see despair.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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