Light always Conquers Darkness, from Jesus as Seen by John

Think of the darkest place you know; perhaps it is the closet in your bedroom after all the lights are turned out. You may have another place in mind. From my experience I picture the bridge on a ship at sea; there is no moon, cloud cover has darkened the stars -- just blackness. I picture us approaching land (we "see" it on radar) but we can't really see anything. Then, there it is on the horizon a faint blinking light. It is the expected lighthouse! Now we know where we are; what places to avoid and can enter harbor safely. Once we see light -- it is no longer dark. Light always conquers darkness.

Jesus starts our scripture passage (John 8:12-30) with, “I am the light of the world.”

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

 “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

 But he continued, “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.”

 “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

Jesus finishes his statement by saying, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” This is really an astounding statement. In the first place there is a hint of what have come to be the “I AM” statements. This is an allusion to his divinity since “Yahweh” is a form of I am. Secondly, when Jesus states that he is the light, it implies that everyone else is in darkness and that only Jesus has the truth. What follows is a lengthy, complicated discussion between the Establishment and Jesus about this claim. What follows in this posting is not meant to be a complete exegesis of this passage; I only hope to give an outline and some of the implications of the statement of Jesus.

Of course, the establishment doesn’t believe the claim of Jesus, nor do they like the fact that he made that claim. To them, the Lord is the light; Psalm 27:1, 119:105, therefore they understood that Jesus was making the “preposterous” claim of his Lordship. This was both unbelievable and blasphemous. But, how were they to attack him? Since any truth or claim must be given by two witnesses, they attacked Jesus by saying that he was only saying this about himself with nothing to back it up.

Jesus answered by stating that he was qualified to judge since he knew where he came from and where he was going; in fact he knew the Father and only did as the Father wanted him to do. Jesus told them that they only saw things from a human perspective. Here again was a claim to divinity since God also states that he sees the hearts of men; e.g. the selection of David as King by Samuel.

Jesus gave a second defense by telling them that he wasn’t just bragging; there was another witness, the Father himself. He then tells them that they don’t know the Father since anyone that really knows Jesus knows the Father. Earlier, Jesus had said that anyone knowing the Father would know him (Jesus). Here he reverses that. Later in the Gospel Jesus will say that he and he alone is the way to the Father. Again what must have seemed like preposterous claims to those Pharisees. There is much more to saw about the passage, but I like how it ends, “Even as he spoke, many believed in him. “

Light was a good analogy for the world was indeed dark when Jesus came. There was much to admire about the Roman Empire, but there was a dark underside. Suicide was rampant. Most of the world was under Rome’s thumb. A huge part of the population was enslaved. This was also a time of immorality and pagan idolatry. This is darkness. What does light do to darkness? It dispels the darkness. When there is light, there can be no darkness. When we see light, we are alerted to danger and we can see the way to go. When we see the light, we see the truth. When our sins are brought to light, they can be forgiven.

What does this say to us? Since Jesus is the light, when we come to him, we are transformed and become light. To be sure, just as the Sun is light and the moon reflected light, Jesus is the light – but we reflect that light. So what is our task? Since we have come to the light – let us walk in the light so that others can see and be saved.

"No Condemnation" -- Part 2

First I must say that I stand by yesterday's posting. I think that it is scriptural, but it certainly doesn't deal with every aspect of how we deal with sin -- in ourselves or in others. The prime lessons from the blog are as follows:

1. Jesus didn't come to judge, but to save (John 3:17)
2. He tells us not to judge
3. We are told to work for the repentance and restoration of a brother or sister who is caught in sin

We are to judge sinful behavior. It would be ludicrous if we were not able to make this kind of judgement. We can't however judge the heart of another nor can we make the judgement as to their final destination. This is for God who sees the heart. King David was an adulterer, a murderer and a vicious fighter; yet God's judgement was that David was a man after God's own heart. Does that mean that God is at heart an adulterer or murderer -- heaven forbid -- NO. It does mean that God sees the heart of people even when they sin badly and the judgement may  not be what we would expect by only looking at their behavior.

In my limited experience, people (not just Christians) really are looking for a way out of deep sin. I have on occasion had to tell someone that their action was sinful -- but that is rare. I have never had to tell anyone who came into my office asking about something that had happened or that they had done -- that there was sin involved; what they wanted was a way out. We can help. So many times we want to judge the behavior and through a stone and be done with it. It is hard personal work to help persons out of the trouble that they got into.

Another aspect is the natural consequences of sin. For example, someone caught in adultery can be forgiven; adultery is not the unforgivable sin! That doesn't mean that their marriage might end with all of the ramifications of a messy divorce. That is not punishment; that is a natural consequence. A number of years ago a man who I knew well came into the office complaining, "I don't know why God is doing this to me! I had two flat tires this morning." He went on to tell the whole, sad story. He asked again, if I could tell him why God was punishing him. I asked him how old the tires were. He said that they were quite old and bald and that he had been putting off getting new ones. I then told him that God was not punishing him. The flat tires were merely the natural consequence of driving with rotten tires. In fact I also told him that the fact that this hadn't happened before was a gift of God's grace. Sin is a lot like this -- there are natural consequences that aren't punishment. I have heard the story from people who have gotten in trouble with the law. "I've repented so why hasn't he forgiven me." I told them that they had been forgiven. They then say, "Why do I have to go to jail then?" That is a natural consequence of breaking the law. The good news is that God will be with you.

What about Christian Leaders who sin openly and badly. They must be removed from their position because a natural consequence of a leader who misleads others through their bad behavior is to lose that leadership position. Does this means that they must be kicked out of the fellowship and shunned? Absolutely not. They are a Christian brother of sister and must be loved and restored. God loves them and forgives them. Will they ever be restored to leadership? That depends on what happened in their bad behavior and how things work in the restoration process.

The upshot of it all is that when we sin we must confess our sins, repent of our sins and we will be forgiven -- by God. But we must also deal in grace and forgive our brother or sister. This is not optional. We can judge bad behavior but we can never judge another's heart. That is for God alone. Our job is to love and bless; to nurture; to forgive and to lead them back to God.

"No Condemnation," from Jesus as Seen by John

When a person goes before a board in order to be ordained, that person must answer a number of theological questions which are usually in defense of the paper that they presented. They are also asked some practical questions. I was greeted with, “What would you do if your chairman of the board came and confessed that he was involved in an adulterous affair?” Good question. How do we handle sin in the church? In fact, how should the church look on sin within society. Let’s look at Jesus – as seen by John in 7:53-8:11:

 Then they all went home,

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

 

   At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

  “No one, sir,” she said.

   “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Let’s start by looking at the situation. After Jesus had been hassled while teaching at the temple, the people went home; Jesus went to the Mount of Olives where several villages were located with friends of his; notably Bethphage where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. So the story begins on the next day as Jesus returns to the temple and begins to teach. There are a lot of people there; a crowd who liked to listen to him. They weren’t all believers but they seemed to like what they heard.

Enter some Pharisees and teachers of the law. These were the people who understood and practiced the law; the experts in both knowledge and practice. They didn’t come alone. They brought in a woman who was probably both terrified and humiliated who had been caught in the “act of adultery.” We don’t know precisely how she was caught, but there seemed to be evidence that she was in an adulterous relationship. But, what is wrong with this picture? I believe that adultery can only be accomplished if there are at least two people involved. Where was the man? Of course, the righteous “keepers of the Law” wanted here to be stoned “as the law requires”; or does it?

What does the law really say about this? There are three verses in the Old Testament that are relevant; Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22 and Deuteronomy 22:23. Lev. 20:10 merely states that if a man sleeps with another man’s wife, both are to be killed. Deuteronomy 22:22 says the same thing. Verse 23 is a little different in that it describes a situation where a man seduces a woman betrothed to another in a town; the man is to be killed for committing adultery and the woman for not calling out for help. Note, that while stoning was very “popular”, it is not proscribed. What is required is that both are to suffer death. So, the legal experts start out by breaking the law!

The story goes on to say that this was all a trap. How could that be? It seems that Rome didn’t really authorize the Jews to execute people (at least legally – we do see it done, remember Stephen?) This is evidently why Jesus had to be sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate. Therefore, if Jesus told them to stone the woman, he would be disobeying Rome and could be reported, and if he said not to stone her, he would be guilty of “disobeying the Law” which would infuriate the Jews. They thought they had him, but wait. . . What is Jesus doing? He just stoops down and begins to write in the dirt. What is he writing? No one knows – a mystery. Finally he stands up and says, “OK, why doesn’t the one who is without sin throw the first stone.” Then he stoops down again and continues to write. The trappers were trapped; they knew that none of them were sinless and they all left.

After it was only Jesus and the woman left, he stood up and addressed her. Notice how gentle and compassionate he is with her. He doesn’t condemn her at all; nor does he condone her actions. He merely sets her free and tells her not to live that way anymore. Isn’t this the way that Jesus wants his people to deal with people who are caught up in sinful behaviors?

How should we deal with people outside the church who engage in what we may determine to be sinful behaviors? Leave them alone, it probably really isn’t our business. Look at Jesus at the party with tax collectors and prostitutes. He isn’t condemning them. He loves them. Even Paul tells us that we have to associate with “sinners” in the world; we have to buy from them, work with them – and win them. The operative word is love; we are to love them. We don’t have to love their behaviors. We should also be praying for them. We don’t know their heart and we can’t judge them.

 Inside the church, the operative word is still love. We don’t condone sin in the church; even though we are all sinners. Once we have come to Jesus and been filled with the Spirit, we are being transformed; we have been called to be holy. But, we are still capable of sin – and we are all guilty. We must love one another and gently help them change to a better way of acting (Galatians 6). Even where Paul describes a situation whereby someone is to be dismissed from the church, the purpose was repentance and restoration – not condemnation. Most of us who are Christians are very familiar with John 3:16, but we miss John 3: 17 which states, “For God did not send him into the world to condemn the world, but to same the world through him.” Certainly, if the mission of Jesus didn’t include the condemnation of people then it is obviously not a part of our mission. We are called to love and to bless, not to shame, humiliate and condemn.