I Am the Light of the World - John 8:12-30

                     

Have you ever experienced times when life seemed dark and the future felt hopeless and your spirits sank at the thought of simply having to get out of bed that morning? Many of us haven’t felt life being quite that dark, though most of us can think of times when we wished life wasn’t such a struggle, when we wished for a bit of hope to shine through and give us strength.  When we step back and look at the root of all our hurt, our struggles, our times of dark, it always comes down to the effects of sin within our world, either our own or other people’s sin which impacts us. Darkness overwhelms: it can come from a critical spirit, harshness can overwhelm those it’s directed at; often without the critical person even realizing how they impact the soul of the other person. We live in an often-harsh world and the church is not immune to it. This is why we need the light of Jesus to shine into the despair, the fear and worry, the loneliness and brokenness of our world through us, his body here on earth.

Leading into our story this morning, a woman caught in adultery is paraded through the town humiliated and tormented and forced to stand in front of Jesus. Her sin is publicly announced for all to hear and a sentence is demanded from Jesus. So many questions here; why is only the woman brought before Jesus, why the need to publicly humiliate her like this, is there no one willing to stand up and protect her, why has she found herself sleeping with a man not her husband, and the man sleeping with someone not his wife, and finally, how dark is her heart right now, is there any hope left in her now? Her sin, and the sin of the man with her, have brought her to this place, but there are also the sins of the crowd, their hatred, anger, lack of mercy, and scheming. Their goal wasn’t justice, but to make Jesus look as if he didn’t care about God’s will. Our dark times are normally a combination of things, not just about one or two sins or decisions, but often an interweaving of circumstances that come together in hurtful destructive ways.  

The effects of sin colour everything in life, making suffering and hurt a regular part of our lives, not something abnormal, but normal. If this is true, what hope is there? Isaiah writes, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

The setting of our passage this morning is the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles, remembering Israel’s time in the wilderness where God guided them with a pillar of light during the darkness of the night and a pillar of cloud during the day. The pillar of light gave the people hope, a feeling of God’s presence and protection. The feast includes the imagery of light and water. Where Jesus is standing in the temple courts, there are 2 large lampstands as a reminder of the hope that comes from God’s presence and guidance. The time in the wilderness was a dark time for the people, just as the time they’re living in often felt dark since they’re not completely free, under Roman control.

If you’re here this morning looking for hope, for a light to shine through the darkness of your hurt or struggles, look to the light of the world, the one God sent to offer hope; look to Jesus, whose birth we’re celebrating this advent season. John shows us one of the ways Jesus offers hope. Jesus offers grace and mercy to the woman caught in adultery, he tells the Pharisees, “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I do not stand alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.” It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t offer the woman forgiveness, but calls her to leave her life of sin, a life that has caused her pain, rejection and almost death. Jesus calls us to leave our lives of sin, and he calls us to follow him. He says, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus offers grace and safety to those who follow him, shining his light into their darkness and hopelessness in order to give them hope.

In the great darkness that covered the land just before Jesus’ death, God’s light shines through as our sins are paid for once and for all. Jesus’ death is the light that takes away fear and replaces it with strength as we trust that he is who he says he is: the Son of God. Jesus has the power to wash away our sin and lead us into a new life filled with light instead of darkness. Jesus tells the Pharisees who he is, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

If you’re looking for a miraculous change in your circumstances, what Jesus offers is an opportunity for hope and change, but it comes through leaving your old life and following him. He accepts you as you are, offering you grace and mercy, but Jesus also challenges you to embrace what he teaches, challenges you to trust him to walk his way, repenting from your old way of life and choose his way. Jesus commits himself to taking on the sin that drags us into darkness, struggle, and hurt; he takes it to the cross and through his blood washes our sin away so we can experience the light of forgiveness and grace. Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit to guide us and comfort us as we deal with the after-effects of our sin and follow him.

Jesus calls himself the “light of the world,” but he also calls those who follow him the “light of the world” too. In his teaching to the people while on the mountain side, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” If we’ve truly accepted Jesus’ call to follow him, his Spirit works in us and his light shines through us.

How does this work? It works through living in the way Jesus taught; loving God with everything you are and really loving your neighbour as yourself. Faith is believing in Jesus and it’s about our character being shaped by Jesus. This is about transformation, about us changing every day more into the people God wants us to be, who God has created us to be. The transforming is never done, at least not in this life time. If you’re not changing anymore in who you are, then you’re not working very hard at your relationship with God. It doesn’t take long in God’s word to see that we all have a lot of changing to do.

In a harsh and difficult world, we are light through how we treat each other, how we talk about each other; how we model Jesus’ grace and gentleness with those who don’t measure up to our standards because in the end, none of us measure up to Jesus’ standard and we depend on his grace as much as others depend on our grace to experience light in the darkness of a harsh world. People judge our faith and walk with Jesus through how we treat and talk about each other, this is why Jesus told us that others will know that we are his followers through how we love each and treat each other.

Did you hear how Jesus describes our light as “good deeds that lead others to praise God” for them, for us? Our light brings life to those who are walking in darkness as they encounter the love of Jesus through us through how we build each other up and encourage others with a generous spirit of love and grace. It’s amazing how a kind word can pierce through a heart filled with the darkness of despair with the light of genuine grace.

But the story is not finished simply with us living as children of light. We’re on a journey, and our ultimate destination is not a world that is marked by darkness, but a "new heaven and earth" where light that comes from God's glory shines through the whole creation. John is given a vision of the glorious city of light in Revelation 21 and 22 where the effects of sin to darken our lives and create hurt and suffering are all gone. John writes, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple. The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.... then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.” Peace, flourishing, grace, presence of God, life, all point to light, Jesus’ light, our light.