In John 6 Jesus gave an “I am” statement. I am the bread of life.
In John 8 Jesus gives another “I am” statement: I am the light of the world.
First, what does that even mean? Bread we pretty easily understand. We touch bread, we taste bread, we smell bread, we hear the crunch of breaking bread, we are nourished by bread. It is part of all of our senses. But what about light? It is just, well, kind of “out there”.
Light is the first noun we have recorded to come from God. Genesis 3:1, God said, “Let there be light.” Light provides heat and time, it gives the ability to see. It is complex, both wave and particle. It is constant. It bends. It is a spectrum. It is both visible and invisible. It provides beauty and comfort. It is throughout the universe.
John also begins his gospel with an equation of Jesus and light. John 1:4, “in Him (the word who was the creator) was life and that life was the light of all mankind.” Whether acknowledged or not by man, everything about their life, whether physical, moral, mental, or spiritual, at every level of their life and death, is tied to and comes from Jesus.
But Jesus, in John 8:12, doesn’t just claim this as a description of himself. He offers it as a gift to us. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” We don’t need to search. We don’t need to work. We don’t need to worry or fear or anything else. All we need to do to be free of all darkness (insert all the things that darkness is a stand-in for here), is to follow him. When we do that one thing, then He gives us for our own, the “light of life.” He gives us himself. He gives us the sacrifice of himself as our own sacrifice and payment of our sins. He gives us creation. He gives us new birth.
But all the Pharisees heard were the words, “I am”. There was a precaution built into the law of that time (and still very relevant today), that someone can’t just announce that they are something and that makes them that thing. If I were to say I was an accountant or a lawyer, you might want the testimony of another, such as a school or testing board, to accept my statement.
But Jesus had just announced that He is God. He just offered something that no one other than the creator has the authority to offer. What man could testify that he had that authority. The answer is simple, no one other than God could, and that is exactly what Jesus tells them. The Father speaks for me. The scriptures speak of Jesus time and time again.
Jesus closes with them with the same admonition we need to hear today. This offer that he has made is a limited time offer. You only have one lifetime to accept it. What path are you following today? There is only one path of the light of life.
My Answers:
6.
a.
There is an alternative to walking in the darkness of this world, to becoming truly alive and a light in this world. Jesus alone is the Son of God, it is impossible to know God the Father without knowing Jesus
b.
He had 2 witnesses, himself and the Father. He actually had a third, the scriptures themselves, since He was written into every part and parcel.
7.
a.
You are from below, I am from above. You are of the world, I am not of this world. Without him they’re only future is death. With Him is life/
b.
Jesus is the Son of the Father. Jesus came to earth to be a perfect man to redeem us from sin at the cost of his own life. He defeated death and has risen to heaven. Jesus and the Father and Holy Spirit are one and through Jesus, I am invited to join.
8.
two things, lifted up on the cross and lifted up to heaven after he rose from the grave and ascended. Jesus came to earth to die and be raised from the dead, to pay the price of sin and to be the first reborn
The Notes are Good 