Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, “I AM the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
There were “messianic” signs that were given in the Old Testament, so that there would be no mistake when the Christ appeared, that this would indeed be the promised Messiah. Isaiah foretold of the coming of the Messiah when he wrote
“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” (Isaiah 29:18)
Later he wrote:
“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, fear not! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:3-6)
When Jesus began His ministry, He began to do the things that were foretold about the Messiah in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Today’s “I AM” is sandwiched in between an encounter Jesus had with a woman caught in adultery and the healing of a blind man (John 9). In the instance of the woman caught in adultery, the Jewish leaders brought the woman to Jesus to see if He would condemn her to death by stoning, as was prescribed in the Law of Moses. His response was to say “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7) He also wrote on the ground with His finger. No one knows what He was writing but scholars postulate that perhaps He was writing down the names and transgressions of the Jewish leaders, which is why they all left.
This encounter left the Pharisees perplexed and so Jesus continued the dialogue, that He is the Light of the world, that He has come to bring light where there is darkness, such as with the woman caught in adultery. Her life was already dark. Through the Light of Christ, her, and others, come to repent of sin and come closer to God. The Pharisees became contemptuous with Jesus and wanted to stone Him, but He left the temple.
Immediately, going into John 9, Jesus encounters a blind man and He heals him. The Pharisees are again perplexed that Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath. And so there is a division, could a man open the eyes of a blind man, something that had never been done, but not respect the Sabbath? In the end, they conclude that Jesus is not from God, even though He fulfills one of the Messianic signs.
Jesus uses the phrase “I AM the light of the world” again in John 9:5, immediately before healing the blind man. This is because as the Lord, He has the power to bring light to those who suffer physical blindness, in this case, the blind man, and He also has the power to give light to those who suffer spiritual blindness, which is all of us at some time or another.
We’ve all had the experience of not seeing. We’ve all stumbled around in a dark room. We’ve all experienced the power going out. And it’s not a great feeling when there is no light. Because ninety percent of what we take in is through our sense of sight. When Jesus said “He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” (John 8:12) He doesn’t mean that following Him will make life super easy. He doesn’t mean that we will be rich and famous. He doesn’t even mean that one day we won’t lose our physical sight, or need glasses. Rather, when we follow Him, our souls become filled with light. We don’t have sadness or confusion in our consciences. Rather we have a humble confidence and a reassurance that even though we may not know where we are going (think moving to a new town, or starting a new job, or any unforeseen challenge we don’t know the end of), walking in His light will make wherever we are headed turn out alright in His eyes, and the journey will be blessed with a peace for our souls.
Thy steadfast love, Lord, extends to the heavens, Thy faithfulness to the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, Thy judgments are like the great deep; man and beast Thou savest, O Lord. How precious is Thy steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. They feast on the abundance of Thy house, and Thou givest them drink from the river of Thy delights. For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light do we see light. O continue Thy steadfast love to those who know Thee, and Thy salvation to the upright of heart! Psalm 36: 5-10
Walk with Christ wherever your life takes you today.
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The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyrighted 1946, 1952, 1971, and 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and used by permission. From the Online Chapel of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
