Light of the World

John 8:12-20

 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’ Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’ Then they said to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus loves to talk in twisty, windy, puzzle-y ways. It's easy to get lost down in them.

Except it's really the first line that says it all, isn't it?  There isn't much puzzle-y about that.  Light I think is my favorite metaphor for Jesus.  It's the one that visually makes the most sense to me, and it is one that is made even stronger by it's multiple meanings.

It's also an image the Gospel of John starts using right at the beginning:  "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  When I think of Jesus as light I imagine the image of a a door or a window casting light into a blackened room.  When the door opens or the sun rises through the panes of the window and light streams in, which is it that is overcome?  The light doesn't fade by the darkness, but instead the darkness is illuminated.  

Darkness illuminated.  Jesus comes to cast it out.  To shed light on the darkness so that we can't hide in it.

And the other metaphor for light works too.  Jesus in Matthew tells us that his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.  He lightens our load.  He does the heavy lifting.

Of course that doesn't mean following Jesus is easy.  Even when things are illuminated or burdens are lifted, we find ways to pull the familiar darkness around us, of put the yoke of sin right back on our shoulders.  We try to creep back into the corners of our darkness, hiding in the shadows, trying not to see the truth.

Truth.  That's the other word for that Jesus claims for himself.  The way, the truth and the life.  That's what the light offers us.  Truth and life.  Casting out the darkness so that we can see ourselves plainly and know the way to abundant life.

Light of the world, shine on me and cast out the darkness that I stubbornly cling to. Amen