HILLFAITH STUDIES: The Second of Jesus’ Great ‘I AM’ Claims – The Light of the World

It is difficult to conceive of a more comprehensive claim that Jesus could make in describing Himself than what He says at John 8:12 and John 9:5, respectively:

“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.’” John 8:12.

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5

In the first instance, Jesus is speaking in the Temple at Jerusalem when a group of Pharisees interrupt to confront Him with a woman they claim to have caught in the act of adultery, the penalty for which is death by stoning.

In the second instance, Jesus is speaking privately to His disciples about a blind man He has just healed by putting mud moistened with His spit on his eyes. In the first case, Jesus saves from death, and in the second He gives sight to see the world as it is, not as we imagine it.

In these two instances, Jesus tells us something crucial about Himself and about ourselves and our eternal destiny.

This Light Never Fails:

It is important to understand the context of the incident with the Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery. Jesus was at the Temple, along with a huge crowd that had come from across Israel to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. That feast celebrated how God had provided for the Jews in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.

The temple had four large towers and during the festival each of the towers was topped with a large Menorah having 12 branches, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The 48 branches were all lit up at night during the festival, thus providing a light that everybody present in Jerusalem could see.

John tells us Jesus was teaching when the Pharisees confronted Him with the woman and demanded to know if He agreed with the Mosaic law’s death penalty for her. His reaction is to say he who is without sin should cast the first stone and to then begin writing something, we aren’t told what, in the dirt.

None Can Cast The First Stone:

One by one, beginning with the oldest of the Pharisees present, the woman’s accusers leave the scene. When Jesus asks her if anybody is left from among them to accuse her, she says no and He tells her:

“Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on, do not sin any more.”

John doesn’t tell us directly what Jesus wrote in the dirt, but the issue at hand is sin and death, and the men accusing the woman depart one by one, starting with the oldest. The suggestion of scriptural exegetes through the ages is that Jesus knew each of the accusers by name and the sin in their own lives.

His point to the Pharisees then was that all men and women are guilty of sin, not just the woman caught in adultery. Jesus is the great enemy of man’s hypocrisy. He tells the woman He doesn’t condemn her and instructs to sin no more.

Before Abraham Was, I AM:

The balance of the eighth chapter of John is Jesus’ continued dialogue with the Pharisees who apparently reassembled to confront Him about the authority He claimed to forgive the woman of her sin. This dialogue includes His “Before Abraham was, I AM” of John 8:58, which we will study separately in this series.

At John 9:5, Jesus is with the disciples when they come upon the man who was blind at birth. In asking Jesus “who sinned, this man or his parents,” the disciples repeat the mistaken belief common at the time that a physical disability or sickness was evidence of God’s judgement of the sufferer.

“Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:3-5.

But Now I See:

Jesus demonstrated in the confrontation with the Pharisees over the woman caught in adultery that all of us have sin in our lives because we are born into this world with Original Sin.

And here with the blind man, Jesus takes the dust from which we are made, adds water, which is a biblical symbol of grace and forgiveness, and heals the man’s blindness. Grace heals sin and the blindness it causes. Now the man can see the world as it is, not as he imagined it to be throughout his prior life. Jesus is, as he said, the “light of the world” for this man.

Jesus opened my eyes on the morning of March 1, 1991. He can open your eyes, too. If you would like to talk further about this, let’s get together for coffee and conversation. I promise to answer any questions you have about Jesus in as informative, non-judgmental a way as I can.

In the meantime, blessings to you and I hope to hear from you soon.

---

The Complete Jesus’ Seven Great ‘I AM’ Claims Series

July 6: Introduction – Jesus’ Seven Great ‘I AM’ Claims Series.

July 13: “I am the bread of life.” John 6:35

July 20: “I am the light of the world.” John 8:12 and 9:5

July 27: “I am the gate for the sheep.” John 10:7

August 3: “I am the good shepherd.” John 10:11

August 10: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” John 11:25-26

August 17: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” John 14:6

August 24: “I am the true vine.” John 15:1

---