John 8:12–38 – “Light and Truth”
(Josiah Hall)
John 8:12–38 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.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 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. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”19 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.” 20 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.
21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
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This passage contains a phrase frequently taken out of context and applied in a wide variety of secular settings: “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:32). In its context, however, Jesus’s statement applies not to truth in general, but to a very specific truth: Jesus is the Son of God. In the flow of John’s narrative, this passage marks a return to the courtroom imagery of John 5 (which Matt preached on this past Sunday). Here Jesus, in the temple, provides the defense of himself that Nicodemus anticipated in John 7:51. Jesus claims three things about himself in this passage.
First, Jesus claims that he is the light of the world, which in context is a claim to represent God’s presence in the world. The passage occurs just after the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), one of three Jewish festivals which involved a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. One of the distinctive rituals associated with this festival according to later rabbinic sources was the lighting of massive lanterns in the Temple’s court for women, which were then kept burning all night long. These lanterns reminded worshippers of God’s presence with Israel in their wilderness wanderings, and so when Jesus stands in the temple courts and claims to be the “Light of the world” (8:12), those hearing him rightly recognize that he is making a provocative claim about his unique relationship to God. As God spoke light into the darkness at the beginning of creation, so Jesus is the light that has entered a world made dark by sin (recall John 1:1–5).
Second, Jesus claims to have the God-given authority to judge and the ability to judge rightly. The word “judge” here means more than simply to assign a punishment; rather, the term indicates Jesus’s authority and ability to discern the truth. Jesus tells the crowds that in his unity with the Father, he can rightly assess the truth, whereas the crowds only look at physical appearances (“you judge by the flesh” [8:15]) and so have misidentified who Jesus really is. The crowd’s question to Jesus—“where is your father?” (8:19)—is more than a rejection of Jesus’s testimony or a question of his parentage. For us who know that God is Jesus’s Father, that the crowds ask “where is your Father” while standing in the temple indicates that their failure to accept Jesus’s testimony about himself has resulted in a ruptured relationship between them and God.
Third, Jesus claims that the clearest revelation of his identity is his crucifixion—when he is lifted up (8:28). In that time, crucifixion was the most shameful way one could die, and it signaled that the crucified person had no control over themselves and had been abandoned by the gods. Jesus, however, states that his death will indicate the exact opposite, for he goes to his death willingly and in full confidence that the Father will not abandon him (8:28–29).
John does not only paint a picture of the rejection of Jesus, however; some do believe (8:30). Yet as he did in John 6, Jesus responds to those who claim to believe with hard teachings, exposing the darkness and challenging them to remain in the light; true disciples remain with Jesus (8:31–32). Then, as today, many are willing to accept Jesus and laud him as a good teacher until he challenges their overly optimistic view of themselves. Jesus promises true freedom (8:36), but only to those who can accept the truth that they need deliverance and that he alone provides it. The struggles of the crowds throughout this passage—with recognizing Jesus’s true relationship to God and with accepting the truth he tells them about themselves—should likewise challenge us to examine our tendency to be selective in the truths about Jesus we accept and to bring to him the places in our lives where we need to be set free.
Weekly Prayer Focus: Planning for Capital Campaign
Daily Prayer Request: “A Clear Plan.” Part of what we are currently doing, as we move forward with preparation for a capital campaign, is working to speak clearly about the importance of this project. On one hand, this is something we have been doing ever since we looked to purchase a building, but it is hard toto be clear, and something as important as this deserves special attention to clarity. Please pray that our Capital Campaign Committee would be able to communicate clearly and effectively.