John 8

Shiny

/ Blake McKinney / Leave a comment

The Gospel of John shines a spotlight on the audacity of Jesus by presenting to us the famous “I Am” sayings of Jesus. Seven times in that Gospel, Jesus boldly takes the divine name in one hand, takes one of our greatest needs in the other hand, smushes them together, and attaches them to himself. In doing so, he claims to be God, and he claims to be the answer to everything we lack. We are empty, and he says he is the bread of life. We need care and protection, and he says he is the good shepherd and the gate. We are lost and clueless and dying, and he says he is the way, the truth, and the life. We are stumbling around in the dark, and look what Jesus says:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.”  – John 8:12a

This statement is one of those “liar, lunatic, or Lord” moments C. S. Lewis talked about. Who would have the nerve to make such a claim? Light is so fundamental to the universe that the whole party started with God saying, “Let there be light.” Our solar system spins around the big fusion-powered light at its center. Light fuels the oxygen you are currently inhaling (thank you, photosynthesizing plants). Light makes it possible for you to see the face of a person you love, and it pushes back the shadows that fill you with fear. Light is so central that the Old Testament repeatedly tells us that God is light (see, for example, Psalm 27:1, Isaiah 60:19, and Micah 7:8). Jesus has the nerve to announce that he himself is the shiniest light there is.

Jesus’ words about light sparkle even brighter when we recognize the significance of the time and place at which he spoke them. John gives us the context if we look closely. He says Jesus spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put (8:20) – that is, in the court of women. He’s speaking during the Festival of Tabernacles, and specifically on the last and greatest day of the festival (7:2, 7:37). The Festival of Tabernacles remembered God’s presence with his people in their wilderness wandering on the way from Egypt to the promised land. A key feature of the celebration was a ceremony called the illumination of the temple. Four massive oil lamps were set up – some extra-Biblical accounts say they were 75 feet tall. Light from those lamps lit up every courtyard in the city during the festival. That massive, brilliant light was to remind people of the pillar of fire that guided the Israelites on their journey – fire that represented the very presence and glory of God.

Can you guess where those giant lamps were – the lamps representing God’s glory? They were in the court of women. The same place Jesus was standing when he said, “I am the light of the world.”

Enlightening, huh? But it gets even better. On the last night of the festival (remember that’s when Jesus was talking), the giant oil lamps were left unlit. So picture Jesus standing in front of four 75-foot tall dark oil lamps saying, “I am the light of the world.”

Why were the lamps left dark on the last night of the festival? The darkness represented the people’s longing for the glory of God to return. At the dedication of Solomon’s temple, that glory had descended on the temple. It had remained there as a reminder of God’s presence with his people. Generations later, the prophet Ezekiel had warned that if God’s people continued to live in disobedience, the glory would depart. Then in Ezekiel 10 and 11, he shared a vision he had of the glory of God departing the temple. For generations after Ezekiel, the people had been waiting for the glory to return. The giant, dark lamps declared, “God, we are waiting for you to come back – waiting for the light of your glory to return.”

Jesus stood amid those darkened lamps and said, “Hey, guys, the glory is back! I AM the flame of God’s glory. I am the light of the world.”

Jesus made quite the audacious claim about himself! He followed it immediately by clarifying why his identity as the light matters to you:

“Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12b

Jesus said that if you walk with him, you’ll always have light, because you’ll have him.

He might not illuminate your entire path all at once. Today you might not be able to see the part of the path that you will walk next year, or even next Thursday. But keep following Jesus, the light, and when you get to next Thursday, he’ll be there with you, shiny as can be, to scatter the shadows. He is the light of life. He is the light of the world.

Want to explore further?

1. Read each of the 23 verses in John in which Jesus used the phrase “I AM” (4:26; 6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51; 8:12, 18, 24, 28, 58; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1, 5; 18:5, 6, 8)

2. Use a Bible app or biblegateway.com to search for all occurrences of the word “light” in the Bible.

3. Spend a moment asking Jesus to shine brightly so that you can see him clearly, and so that you can see everything else in light of him.

Who Do You Think You Are?

/ Blake McKinney / Leave a comment

outstretchedarms_image2Jesus constantly did and said things that nobody else ever had the nerve to do or say. Pretty much everyone who spent five minutes or more with Jesus wound up wondering, “Who do you think you are?” One time, in a conversation recorded in John 8, folks actually asked Jesus that question out loud.

“Conversation” is probably too gentle of a word; the exchange included more name-calling than an argument on an elementary school playground. The religious leaders called Jesus an illegitimate child (v.41), and he replied that at least he wasn’t the devil’s kid like they were (v.44). Then they called him a demon-possessed Samaritan, which was a pretty sick burn in first century Jerusalem (v.48). Jesus retorted that they were liars who didn’t know God (v.55).

Jesus filled the conversation with audacious claims about himself – claims that he was the light of the world, and the Son of God, and the source of freedom. When he added that people who did what he said would avoid death, the religious leaders finally got fed up and said,

“Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”  – John 8:53

Though meant to be rhetorical, the question on the lips of Jesus’ verbal sparring partners was an excellent one. Who did Jesus think he was? What was his self-understanding? If he had had to go inside from his playground argument and write a paper for his teacher describing himself, what would he have said?

We will come back to John 8 in a moment to see the audacious answer he gave in that instance. But first, let’s take a detour through Matthew 12 and look at a couple of other times when he told people who he thought he was.

“I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.”  – Matthew 12:6

For first century Jews, nothing was greater than the temple. The temple was the very center of their faith. It was the place they offered sacrifices to stay on God’s good side. It was God’s HQ, his address on earth, the location of his throne. It was the great cosmic belly button – the place where the umbilical cord of heaven connected with earth. But Jesus said he was greater than the temple. He said he was a new and better connection point between God and people.

“Something greater than Jonah is here… something greater than Solomon is here.”  – Matthew 12:41-42

Jonah was a prophet who endured a close encounter with fish intestines and then saw a 100% response rate from a very hostile congregation, but Jesus claimed to be greater than him. Jesus said that if folks thought it was impressive to emerge alive from a fish after three days, they should wait and see what he was going to pull off. And Solomon was a world-renowned source of wisdom, but Jesus claimed to be greater than him, too. To put it mildly, Joseph and Mary’s boy had a rather high opinion of himself.

Now let’s head back to the playground squabble in John 8. When the religious leaders asked Jesus if he was a bigger deal than Abraham, and just who he thought he was, here is how he responded:

“‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am.'”  – John 8:58

Jesus used some seriously weird grammar to make an audacious claim. “Born” is a translation of the Greek word genesthai. It means that Abraham was made – that he came into existence. The word “am,” which Jesus used of himself, is the Greek eimi. It points to essential existence, to timeless being. Jesus didn’t say, “before Abraham came into existence, I came into existence.” He said, “before Abraham came into existence, I AM.” Abraham was a created being – there was a time that he wasn’t around, and then a time that he was. But Jesus said that he himself has always been around. He just IS.

Of course, Jesus didn’t just make up the phrase, “I am.” He plagiarized it from God Almighty. God had used the phrase as an introduction when Moses asked him who he was. At the burning bush, God pointed to the sticker on his chest that said, “Hello, my name is I AM.” And in the scene recorded in John 8, Jesus peeled the nametag from God’s lapel and placed it on his own.

As soon as the words left Jesus’ lips, the religious leaders started reaching for stones to chunk at the blasphemer before them.

It turns out that when Jesus’ opponents asked him if he was greater than Abraham, they were setting the bar way too low. Of course he was greater than Abraham. And Solomon. And Jonah. And the temple. The real question was not who he was greater than, but to Whom was he equal.

We hear the audacious things Jesus said and did, and we ask, “Who do you think you are!?”

And Jesus answers, “I AM.”

walkingonwater_image2

Want to explore further?

  1. Read John 8:12-59 and underline all the things Jesus said that strike you as audacious.
  2. Read each of the 23 verses in John in which Jesus used the phrase “I AM” (4:26; 6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51; 8:12, 18, 24, 28, 58; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1, 5; 18:5, 6, 8)
  3. Who do you think Jesus is? Ponder your answer to that vital question.

 

What Jesus Said

/ Blake McKinney / 12 Comments

outstretchedarms_image2

Jesus said some audacious things. Let’s take a quick look at a few examples. We’ll grab one from each Gospel just to be fair.

“Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” – Jesus, Matthew 13:17
Jesus was speaking to his disciples, and he basically said that Isaiah and Ruth and all of their other favorite faith heroes would have loved to switch places with them, because they got to hang out with him. He boldly claimed to be the high point of history, God’s feature attraction after centuries of previews. Pretty audacious, huh?

“Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” – Jesus, Mark 9:41
Those words are pretty audacious, too. Jesus claimed the title “Messiah” for himself, which is no small thing. And he said that he is so important that people will receive rewards and blessings for treating his friends well.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Jesus, Luke 23:43
Jesus spoke these words to the terrorist dying on the cross next to his. He had the audacity to declare himself in charge of the heavenly guest list, and to announce that heaven was open to a guy whose only qualification for entrance was that he had asked Jesus to put in a good word for him.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” – Jesus, John 8:51
That statement was so audacious that the people who first heard Jesus say it immediately accused him of being demon possessed. They pointed out that some pretty swell folks like Abraham and the prophets died, so Jesus would have to be pretty crazy to claim that doing what he said would make people death-proof.

Audacious words, huh? But none of those statements are really the point of today’s post. We’ll come back to those specific audacious sayings in the future and examine them in further detail. But for now, I’d like for you to notice something about the way Jesus said all of them. Did you catch the repeating phrase? Look again, and notice how Jesus began each of the four statements:

“Truly I tell you…”

In the Gospels, that phrase is the drumroll before several of Jesus’ major announcements and pronouncements. It was a catchphrase of Jesus, a way that he signaled that people better be paying attention because it was about to get good.

Even people who are skeptical about how reliable the Gospels are in conveying the actual words of Jesus have no doubt that he really used that phrase. It shows up too many times in too many independent sources to be made up. And it is not a phrase that any follower of Jesus used later in the New Testament, so we know it is not just a “church saying” that somebody wrote into the Jesus story.

The phrase shows up 79 times in the Bible. All 79 times are in the Gospels. All 79 times, the phrase is on the lips of Jesus.

The word translated “truly” is the Greek word amen. That’s right – Jesus started all of these sayings with the word we usually use when we are wrapping up a prayer and we want to let God know we are bringing it in for a landing. The Greek language actually just hijacked the word amen from Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. It comes from a word meaning “confirmed” or “verified.” It is a word normally used at the end of a statement to affirm its validity. Jesus distinctively used it to begin his statements.

So what Jesus does with the word “truly” in that unique phrase is unprecedented. But what is really mind-blowing is what he does with the “I tell you” part of the phrase. Jesus uses the phrase to claim an audacious amount of authority.

Other rabbis of Jesus’ day buttressed the authority of their words by quoting other recognized experts. Their teaching would be full of “Rabbi Hillel tells you…” or “Moses tells you…” or “the teaching of the elders tells you…”

Jesus came along and simply said, “Truly I tell you…” No need to quote any other authority. There was no higher authority he could quote. Jesus just quoted himself.

He didn’t even say, “thus says the Lord” like the Old Testament prophets did. He just said, “thus says ME!”

Jesus used a phrase 79 times in the Gospels that made it clear that he believed that his words had weight and value and impact and importance simply because he was the one saying them.

“Truly I tell you…”

Don’t you love the audacity of that?

walkingonwater_image2

Want to explore further?

  1. Grab a Bible (one with Jesus’ words in red would make things easier). Pick a Gospel, and scan Jesus’ words until you find an example of him beginning a statement with the phrase, “Truly I tell you…”
  2. Go to biblegateway.com and type the phrase “truly I tell you” in the search bar. Scroll through several examples of Jesus using the phrase, and notice the variety of statements with which he used that unique prelude.
  3. Read the audacious claim Jesus made about his words in Mark 13:31.
  4. Ponder what it means for your life today that Jesus claimed that his words have such authority.