Lent
midweek 2 – John 8
In the
Name of Christ the Crucified +
Let me
talk a bit about how John's Gospel works. John does a few things
that are unique with his Gospel, how he tells the story of Jesus.
For one, John gives a lot of commentary - “In the Beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
That's commentary. John likes to explain a lot of deep stuff – in
fact, John records a lot of conversations where Jesus is explaining
deep stuff – like our Gospel tonight. But also important to
understanding John's Gospel is the old Jewish idea of two or three
witnesses. If you were going to make a legal case under the Jewish
law, you needed at least two witnesses, and three is even better.
That was proof. And in John's gospel, John doesn't talk about Jesus
performing miracles – Jesus performs signs – big visual proofs of
who He is – witnesses, as it were. After Jesus changes water to
wine at Cana, we hear, “This, the first of His signs, Jesus
did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory.”
When Jesus heals an official's son in chapter 5, that's the second
sign. Then there's other healings, the feeding of the 5000... but
these are all gravy. Jesus has demonstrated His bonafides as one
sent from God, one to whom the people should listen.
And
then we get our Gospel lesson tonight. Jesus is in the temple
preaching, and He is just getting all the goodie-goodies riled up.
They've already tried to arrest Him once, and He's just stopped them
from stoning a woman caught in adultery – and who doesn't like a
good stoning, especially if it happens to tie up any loose ends on
what could be a scandal against your pristine reputation. Nope,
Jesus comes, and all our self-centered fun stops. And then Jesus
says, “I AM the light of the world. Whoever
follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life.” Now,
let's ponder this imagery here. The classic way of distinguishing
between good and evil was light and dark. That's pretty near
universal. And let's face it – bad things are much more apt, even
now, to happen in the dark, in the night. That's when it's much
easier to get up to no good. You shine a light, and that's when all
the cockroaches scurry away. Light casts out, banishes darkness, and
then, when there is light you can see. When you can see, you can be
useful, you can do good. You can see beauty. You understand, you
know where you are going. And so when Jesus says “I AM the light
of the world” He is saying that He is God come to banish, drive out
all sin and wickedness – and instead He will lead, He will show us
what is good, right, and salutary – that He will make life worth
living. In Christ we will know our purpose, in Christ we will be
able to serve rightly. In Christ we will be protected from Satan.
There will be life – the light of life – the light that rescues
us from our sins and the darkness of death. And God Himself, the
great I AM, is here to do this.
This
is a pretty awesome statement, is it not? And yet, we hear this: “So
the Pharisees said to Him, 'You are bearing witness about yourself;
your testimony is not true.'” Oh,
there was a subtle shift that turned this into a really bad legal
argument on the Pharisees' part. Yes, Jesus here is talking about
Himself, He is explaining who He is. And in a Jewish court of law,
your own testimony about yourself wasn't enough – you needed other
witnesses. The thing is – Jesus has given them other witnesses –
the folks at the wedding at Cana, the 5000, on and on – more than
enough. Now, once your bona fides are established, then you do get
to talk about yourself and explain what is going on – but the
simple fact is, the Pharisees don't want to hear it. So they duck,
they dodge.
Why?
Why don't they want to hear it? Jesus basically says that they know
nothing of God. Of course they don't – they can't see and
recognize God standing in front of them! “In
your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I
AM the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent Me
bears witness about Me.”
Jesus does it again – says “I AM”. Asserts that He is God,
then refers to the Father almighty. And the folks, they have no
clue. “They said to Him therefore, 'Where is
Your Father?'”
Alright, where's you dad? We need to have a little talk with pops
cause his son's talking a bit of crazy talk here! That's what they
are thinking. And so Jesus lays it out - “You
know neither Me nor my Father. If you knew Me, you would know My
Father also.”
Do you get what Jesus is telling them? You don't have a clue, you
don't even have an idea of who I am or who God is – you've been
walking around in darkness, in love with yourself and with your own
sin.
And
then He spells it out even more bluntly. “I am
going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
And so, the folks think, “Well, he's going somewhere we can't go –
um – obviously he's going to kill Himself because that's where we
being good Jews wouldn't go. Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of logical
sense – it's a bad mental leap. Grasping at straws. But here's
something to remember. Sin is stupid. Seriously. Sin is dumb.
There's never been a time where we can sit back and look at something
sinful we've done and say, “Oh, that was a brilliant idea.” But
when we are trapped in sin, in love with ourselves and our sin, we
don't make sense. And that sin leads to death. Jesus tells them,
“You are from below. I am from above. You are
of the world. I am not of this world. I told you that you would die
in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in
your sins.”
Guys, I can't spell it out any better. I'm dropping I AM's all over
the place – I said I am light, I am from the beginning, I am from
above. I am God, and I am here to bring light and life and salvation
– but if you refuse to believe... you're up the creek without a
paddle.
And
then we hear the Pharisees say, “Who are You?”
Now, that's not an honest question – the way it's phrased in the
Greek is dismissive – more like, “You're... who?” Yeah...
right. They just don't get it, they are dismissive, they don't even
want to understand. There's more back and forth, and then finally
Jesus says, “When you have lifted up the Son of
Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I can do nothing on My
own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me.”
One more I AM. Guys, when it boils down to it, you're going to see
and know only after you have crucified Me, that I'm God, that I'm the
Messiah, that I AM.
Here's the thing about Jesus. He's God, and He comes
to win salvation and forgiveness. And that really just tramples on
what our old adam, what our sinful flesh wants. In so far as we are
sinners, we like sin, we like the darkness – and when we are in our
moods and up to no good, we don't want God around. We'd much rather
prefer a distant God who happens to give us stuff but doesn't mess
with our lives - dare I say, not to pick on you guys, but sort of
like the stereotypical teenager – holed up in her room all angsty,
leave me alone mom unless you're giving me food or money, blowing off
everything dad says, thinking he must be the biggest idiot in the
world. We've all been there. In fact, we're all still somewhat
there, because that's what we're all like by our sinful nature. We
want to brush off and blow off God and just be left alone and do what
we want to do. But that's not what happens. Christ Jesus, the
Light of the World comes – and you know what? He does shine on our
sin. And a part of us hates that. But it is for our own good. And
you know what? All our whining, all our being difficult, all our
sin, doesn't stop Jesus from doing what He's going to do. He is the
Light of the World, and He is going to bring light back to this
world, and nothing will stop Him. And so to shine upon this world,
to shine upon us, He is lifted up, He goes to the Cross – because
that's what the Heavenly Father wants – your redemption. And He
does that upon the Cross.
“As
He was saying these things, many believed in Him.”
And here is the beautiful thing. Christ Jesus is the light of the
world, and even though you are and remain sinners, my dear friends,
and even though you will remain so until you die – you have heard
the Word of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you believe.
You have been given new life in the waters of Holy Baptism – you
are no longer just old man, you are new Man as well, a Christian, a
little Christ, who knows Christ Jesus, the Light of the World, and
who rejoices in that Light that brings you forgiveness, that rescues
you from sin and death, that rescues you from yourself. Christ Jesus
has broken through your callous and dark heart, and by His Word and
Spirit He has given you light and life, given you Himself, tied you
unto Himself in Baptism. Over and against the darkness of this
world, Christ Jesus is the Light of the World for you, all thanks and
praise be to God.
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