As the trap to kill Christ for His refusal to condemn Mary
Magdalene caught in adultery before the people had failed; the conspirators had
left, but the crowd remained. It was the
perfect opportunity for Jesus to continue speaking to this crowd of witnesses,
about the origin of things that would change their lives. John’s gospel account continues in chapter
eight and verse 12 saying … “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the
light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life.” If this had
been all that Jesus had said to His listeners it may have been enough. For His central point had been revealed, most
of what would follow was a response to the Pharisees who remained in the crowd
and had kept silent during the failed attempt to trap Christ with His love for
redeeming Mary over following their ideas of the law’s requirements.
Jesus had told His listeners, “I am the light of the
world”. The origin of light, the thing
that drives darkness away, the focal point upon which we focus and find only
light, life and truth is in fact Jesus Christ.
Notice that Christ did not hold up the scripture and say “these documents”
are the light of the world. Nor did Christ
hold up the laws of Moses, or the Ten Commandments, and offer them as the light
of the world. It is not because those
documents are any less “true”. It is not
because they had lost their relevancy.
It was because ALL of them were testimonies of “who” was to come, of
“who” was to fulfill them, of “who” was to meet the hopes and dreams of
everyone contained in them from Adam to the people sitting in the Temple on
this day. All of scripture pointed to a
“who”, and that WHO was Jesus Christ. It
is NOT to be your understanding of scripture that will be the source of the
light you encounter. It IS to be your
understanding of Jesus Christ that will determine the light you find in your
life. The Bible is a supporting document
for the truth of Jesus Christ, not the other way around.
If we are to find light, so that we can “see”, we must
follow not after our own understanding and our own wisdom, or scientifically
proven conceptual ideas, but instead we must follow after Jesus Christ. ONLY through the illumination of Jesus
Christ, can the scriptures be understood.
ONLY through the prism of His light, through the lens of perfect love,
can the words recorded and ideas presented in the written word begin to make
perfect sense. Trying to read the Bible
without first “following” Jesus Christ and submitting our wisdom to His, is
like trying to read a book in the dark.
The eyes cannot see, and the brain cannot interpret. In point of fact, the God of the Bible, is
more important than the testimony of the Bible. This was never more poignantly true, than when
that testimony has been misconstrued and misunderstood. The Pharisees present in this crowd had
misapplied the scriptures to keep power and wealth reserved to themselves. In so doing they had abandoned love, and the
God of love, who now stood before them, offering to re-open their eyes from the
darkness they chose to wallow in.
From the Pharisees point of view, nothing was more important
than the law Moses had brought down from Mt. Sinai. This was the basis of study they had spent
their lives engaged in. Scripture had
been long debated among them, though some ideas were not universal. Some of their number believed in the literal resurrection
at the end of days, while others believed when you died you slept forever,
never to exist again. These kinds of
divisions over understanding are common, even today, when the most important
premise of love is not sought first. In
any case, Christ, by all indications, valued love over the law. So from their point of view, He could not be
source of light, because He was in conflict with the “light” they believed they
already knew. In verse 13 they challenge
Him saying … “The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of
thyself; thy record is not true.” First,
they point out to the listening crowd that the religious leadership of the
organized church of the day, has NOT sanctioned what Christ is saying about
Himself. And then they further state,
that “what” Christ is saying about Himself is not the truth.
In verse 14 Jesus responds … “Jesus answered and said unto
them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence
I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.” In effect the Pharisees were blinded because
they sought to use scripture to accomplish an end, and did not love first. In looking away from Christ as the Messiah,
they looked away from both Christ and His Father. So to know the perfect love that existed in
heaven and was the foundation of scripture was not something they were going to
perceive. Jesus continued in verse 15 …
“Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. [verse 16] And yet if I judge, my
judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.” First of all Jesus says to them, that they
evaluate life based on what it looks like to them. How things appear to the Pharisees is how
they are, including all their predispositions and prejudices, not unlike us. Second Christ says to them, that His role and
His mission is NOT about judgment. It is
about redemption. But thirdly, if He
were to judge, His judgments would be true, not because He is alone, but
because He is ever in concert with His Father in ALL things. This means that Father and Son work together
for our redemption, and that our redemption was the primary goal of both of
them, not just of Christ. It also means
that if we are to be evaluated by God, we will be evaluated by both Christ and
His Father, not just the one or the other.
Those today who believe God can be found outside of Christ are ignoring
that Christ is also God. There is no
path to God, outside of God. This was a
concept the Pharisees would refuse to believe or accept.
Jesus now turns the tables on His accusers and quotes their
laws back to them beginning in verse 17 … “It is also written in your law, that
the testimony of two men is true. [verse 18] I am one that bear witness of
myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.” Jesus offered Himself as one witness to the
truth of what He said. So far, they had
never caught Him in a lie, nor would they.
Nothing He had ever said could be disproven, or even factually disputed
using the scriptures as a basis. Christ
disagreed with their interpretation of scripture, but they did this among themselves
for centuries. As His second witness,
Jesus offers His Father, as evidenced in the miracles He performed, that would
have been impossible without Divine blessing.
After all, none of them had fed 5,000 men plus women and children. None of them had ever restored a crippled man
completely to full health and vigor before.
None of them had turned water to wine.
These deeds bore the witness of the Divine. None of these deeds had been done to enrich
Christ, or make Christ more wealthy or powerful. All had been done as gifts to those who
received them. The facts were in
evidence.
So the prosecutor decides to ignore the facts that were
common knowledge and demand a personal appearance answering in the start of
verse 19 … “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? …” If Jesus was going to claim to be the
Messiah sent of God the Father, let Him produce God the Father in person as a
witness. They did not see Him in the
crowd that day. Nor would they. Had God the Father appeared in that instance
to testify of His son (as He did in the form of a dove descending on the head
of Jesus at His baptism, and stating in a plain voice from heaven about how
loved His Son truly was); the Pharisees would have still refused to
believe. They did not believe it the
first time. This is the same cry for
“proof” that Atheists demand today, that even if answered would never be
enough. The Pharisees of His day would
have claimed it was Satan that appeared masquerading as God. The Atheists of our day would claim it was
some sort of mass hysteria or mass hallucination or CGI trickery if merely seen
on TV. When one refuses to believe, no
amount of “proof” will ever shake them from their refusal.
Jesus offers his response picking back up in mid verse 19 …
“Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye
should have known my Father also.” This
was more than a statement about the parentage of Christ. This was a statement about where their
lifelong study of scripture had led them to the wrong conclusions because their
motives and premise were not the right ones.
If they had understood the love of the Father as revealed throughout the
Old Testament, they would have seen this love reflected in the person of Jesus
Christ. Every story of redemption
throughout the Old Testament showed that when man recognized and admitted that
he could not save Himself, God intervened and saved Him. Every story that chronicled man’s attempts at
saving himself, ended badly, or worse ended violently. When man attempts to get involved with his
own salvation the results are horrific.
But when man allows God to handle it, the outcome is assured. This lesson was lost on the Pharisees. They saw only their own importance. And so those who should have been most alert
to the Messiah, and should have been the first to recognize Him and follow Him,
looked away from the source of light, preferring to wander in darkness. They did not know God the Father, so they did
not recognize God in the person of Jesus Christ. All their accumulated study and knowledge did
nothing to alert them to the light that stood before them now. Power was more important to them. Humility was absent from them. And missing the light of the world was the
result.
John footnotes his story at this point, noting that Christ
was teaching in the treasury, to those who were there. The leaders were none too happy with Him, and
would have killed Him on the spot, but the divinely appointed hour was not yet
come. So they left Him alone. But His sermon was not yet over …
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