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 judgment 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.” (New Revised Standard Version)
In this season of Christmastide, I am reminded that my own joy over the birth of Jesus as the incarnation of God upon this earth, is not shared by everyone. Where I see good news, there are others who feel threatened. As I bask in glorious light, some prefer to remain in the shadows.
Not everyone, of course, buys into this distinctively Christian way of seeing things – which is why it’s important for all Christians and Churches everywhere to be characterized by the Light and not by the darkness.
Humanity is a strange alchemy of both light and dark, hopefulness and hopelessness, awareness and ignorance, love and hate. We must acknowledge the light, bring it out, and let it shine.
Hiding the light only gives the dark forces of this world an opportunity to hold a sinister and shadowy grip of guilt and shame on the people of this world.
I find that most people want truth and authenticity. They want to discover, know, and be told the truth from a genuine place of care and attention.
There are, however, those few persons who only want what they want, and don’t care much about truth and authenticity, that is, unless they can use it as leverage for their personal agenda.
One of the reasons I like Jesus so much, is that he lived and spoke truth from a good place, and actually worked to better the human condition in its most awful situation.
It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to see that most of the religious leaders, especially the Pharisees, rejected the words of Jesus. They brought up a legitimate legal issue (after all, they were the experts in the Mosaic law) of Jesus bearing witness to himself. How could Jesus possibly be Messiah without the proper testimony of two or three witnesses to his messiahship?
Put another way, why should anyone believe anything Jesus was saying? What stamp of authenticity is upon his ministry? The Pharisees wanted legal evidence, so they confronted Jesus. Most of all, they wanted to expose him as an illegal.
Christ’s response to the religious leaders was consistent with most all of his responses, whenever he was queried about his authenticity. And those responses rarely made sense to most of the people hearing it – largely because they were jerks to begin with.
What I’m getting at is that whenever our hearts are oriented toward humility, gentleness, empathy, good relations, mercy, and peacemaking, then Jesus makes a whole lot of sense.
But whenever the heart is full of shadows and darkness, the person is then driven by unconscious forces which never consciously understand what in the world Jesus is saying to them.
A well-oriented heart is a gift obtained from God. A disoriented heart and a fragmented mind are the result of arrogant pride and selfish agendas.
Therefore, what Jesus said makes perfect sense when he stated that, because of his divine connection, anything and everything he says and does is true, no matter what the issue is.
The problem with the Pharisees speaking with Jesus is that they were not familiar with the two witnesses which he provided for them. Since they didn’t know the Father, the Father’s witness meant nothing to the religious leaders.
Notice that in the banter between Jesus and the Pharisees, Christ seemed to understand that he was not going to convince the unconvinced.
That’s one of the reasons Christ spoke in parables and answered questions other than what people asked of him. Jesus was not going to waste his time with folks who already had their minds made up.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.”
Jesus (Matthew 7:6, NRSV)
Jesus wants people to make right judgments, instead of ignoring all of the epistemic knowledge which is available to them. If you desire the real deal, and want the truth, then open yourself to the means of authenticating it.
Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5, NRSV)
It’s hard to see the light whenever there is a problem with your eyesight. Jesus claims to be the Light of the World. In order to test that claim, you’d better first have your eyes examined.
For those with the eyes to see, the Light illumines the way. Trust the Light. Take it where it leads you.
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by Word and Sacrament, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory. May you bless us with the brightness of Christ’s glory! And, may you enable us to keep seeking the light of Christ. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 