I AM the Light | John 8:12-18
This message was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, September 22, 2024. You can watch the video in full by clicking below.
I love a good origin story.
If you haven’t see the movie, Tony Stark has his heart ripped out by the enemy and they are forcing him to help them with rebuilding their weapons that were from his company. While entrapped, he uses what he has to build himself a new heart. The glowing light in the middle of his chest is representative of a new life for him, new power. He forges this life by harnessing the power of life in the arc reactor. And, as the movie goes on, we see this power in his chest becomes his fuel to take out his enemies, all in the name of justice.
Like Tony, we are all in a battle, pulled between forces of darkness and the compelling brightness of light. Stark uses his power for good, but only after facing the darkness within himself.
Just as Iron Man becomes a force of protection, we, too, are called to bring the light of Jesus—the true Light of the world—into the center of our being, and then to shine through us, not just for our own sake, but to stand against injustice and lead others into His eternal light.
Context
Our passage for today is in John 8 (John 1), so feel free to turn there now. Jesus had just been at the Festival of Shelters. The Festival of Shelters, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, is a Jewish festival that commemorates the Israelites’ 40-year journey through the wilderness after the Exodus. Celebrated for seven days in autumn, it is both an agricultural and spiritual feast, thanking God for the harvest and remembering His provision during the Israelites' time in temporary shelters or booths.
By Jesus' time, this festival involved public ceremonies like water-drawing and lamp-lighting rituals.
On the final day of the festival, Jesus, who has been at the festival teaching to the crowds and debating with the Pharisees, says this:
John 7:37b-38 - “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
Last week we discussed Jesus’ statement, “I am the bread of life.” And just like with the bread, Jesus leans into the symbolism they hold on so tightly to and inserts himself as a metaphor. This new claim, that he is the living water, points to His role as the true fulfillment of the feast’s themes of God's sustenance and salvation.
The next day, Jesus continues to press into the symbolism, drawing himself into their redemption hope they have come to believe, in hopes of drawing them more to himself, revealing even more of himself to the Isrealites.
Jesus is the Light
John 8:12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
This statement directly connects to the lamp-lighting ritual of the feast. By making this claim, Jesus positioned Himself as the fulfillment of the light symbolized in the festival, identifying Himself as the source of spiritual illumination, guidance, and salvation-thereby connecting Himself to the light of the Father.
Light is a common theme throughout Scripture.
Isaiah 9:2 - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.
Psalm 18:28 - LORD, you light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness
Micah 7:8 - Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will stand up; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Revelation 21:23 - The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
In fact, light is the very first creation of the Trinity.
Genesis 1:2-5 - Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.
So as bold as Jesus was when he says “I am the bread of life,” he is just as bold to say “I am the light of the world.” It is another claim of his deity.
His audience has just experienced this dramatic backdrop of the Temple being flooded with light during the Feast of Shelters. This makes Jesus' proclamation even more impactful, underscoring His divine identity as the Light who had come to dispel spiritual darkness.
This is not the first time we are introduced to this idea from John that Jesus is the Light. John had given us a preview in John 1.
John 1:1-5 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
Jesus is both the source of life and the light of all humanity. His life brings light, which illuminates our hearts and minds, offering guidance, truth, and salvation. Without Him, we remain lost in our perpetual insistence to doing things our own way.
When you are in a pitch-black room, there is uncertainty and possibly fear because our surroundings are not known to us. We cannot see what is good or what is dangerous. When we even have something small like a lit match, it brings awareness and safety to us because we can now see what could have been dangerous.
The light of Jesus actively shines into the darkest places of the world and our hearts. John emphasizes here that no matter how pervasive the darkness, it cannot overcome the light of Christ. Jesus breaks through the darkness of our struggles, sin, and despair, offering us hope, healing, and the path directly to God and his love.
Just as when the sun rises each morning and overcomes the darkness, there is no darkness that can overtake the Son of God.
Testify
John 8:13 - So the Pharisees said to him, “you are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”
What the Pharisees are referencing here is the Jewish law requiring 2 or more witnesses. Let’s read these verses.
Deuteronomy 17:6 - The one condemned to die is to be executed on the testimony of two or three witnesses. No one is to be executed on the testimony of a single witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness cannot establish any iniquity or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
What does Jesus have to say to their assertions?
John 8:14-18
“Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “My testimony is true, because I know where I come from or where I’m going. You judge by human standards. I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
Jesus acknowledges their point to the law. He also points out that his testimony is true because it is not him alone. He and the Father bring judgment together. Now, the judgment Jesus references also ties back to the Old Testament scriptures his audience would have been familiar with. For example:
Amos 5:23-24 “Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.”
Psalm 72:1-2 “God, give your justice to the king and your righteousness to the king’s son. He will judge your people with righteousness and your afflicted ones with justice.”
Throughout the Old Testament, there are two words often used in conjunction with each other and we see them in these two passages. Tzedakah means righteousness and mishpat means justice.
The whole of Jesus’ life was to bring to resurrect mishpat and tzedakah, for the sake of restoring honor to the shamed, the rejected, those on the fringe and cast aside. This is why Jesus confidently makes his claim, that the Father testifies with him. Because the Father’s heart is to bring honor to the shamed, hope for the hopeless, and freedom for the captives. And this is the mission of Jesus’ life.
By the way, the Father is not the only one who testifies on behalf of Jesus. Let’s jump back to John 1.
John 1:6-9 - 6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
In fact, the Father testifies to the Son. John the Baptist testifies to the Son. And even the numerous miracles done by Jesus testify to the Son.
When the morning sun rises each morning, there is no denying its existence. In fact, its existence is the testimony of itself. If there was no sun in the sky, its absence would be a dark world, void of life, food, growth, and joy. And even if one were to deny the existence of the sun, their claims would be ridiculous. We would now their denials to be false simply by looking out the window.
Yet, the Pharisees still refuse to acknowledge the Son who is present with them, despite the multiple testimonies and signs of confirmation.
Knowing the Father
John 8:19
Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”
“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
Jesus, the Light of the world, was present in His creation. Yet many—including the religious leaders—did not recognize Him. They had studied the Scriptures, awaited the Messiah, but when the true Light stood before them, they were blind to His identity. They did not testify to Him; instead, they questioned, challenged, and ultimately rejected Him.
The Pharisees’ failure to acknowledge Jesus was rooted in their own pride, legalism, and spiritual blindness. They were so bound by their religious traditions and expectations that they couldn’t see that the fulfillment of prophecy was standing in their midst. They couldn’t bear witness to the Light because they had not truly encountered it.
But again, this was foreshadowed in John 1.
John 1:10-13 - He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
The call for us is to receive him and to believe-
there’s that word again: pistueō that means more than believe, but to trust, rely, and faithfully give ourselves fully to.
The passage continues with a powerful invitation to all: 12But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name. When we receive and believe, we become fully his child. And according to John 8:19, when we receive and rely on Jesus, then we also know the Father.
So where do you and I go from here?
Now What?
Fast forward to John 12. It’s drawing near to the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. In some of his final thoughts for us he says this.
John 12:35-36 - Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.”
The call in this passage is clear. We are invited to embrace the light while it is available to us, revealed to us, to believe in Jesus-not just as a distant figure-but as the One who illuminates our very core. By believing, receiving, relying, and trusting in Him, we move from darkness into light, becoming "children of light" who can reflect God's love and truth in the world.
The decision to walk in the light is urgent because without it, the darkness threatens to overtake us, leaving us disoriented and spiritually floundering.
And when we are his child, well, the psalmist says it best:
Psalms 139:7-12
“I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.”
Well, and then my dear friends, the responsibility is to let that light shine for others to see for God’s glory.
Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Open Worship
The question for us today is: Will we receive and believe? Unlike the Pharisees, who rejected the Light, we are invited to open our hearts, to recognize Jesus as the true Light, and to testify to His power in our lives.
This message challenges us to move beyond knowledge of Jesus and toward a relationship with Him. Will we, like the Pharisees, cling to our own understanding, limited by and relying only on our experience? Or will we humbly receive Him, believing that He is the Light that overcomes the darkness in our world?
