The Light of the World

Four golden lampstands, taller than a house, blazing over the temple courts. All Jerusalem glowing in their light. And into that scene, a voice. “I am the light of the world.”

It is the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, the joyful autumn festival when families lived in shelters of branches to remember God's care in the wilderness. Crowds have poured into the city. In the evenings there was dancing and music in the temple courts, and great lamps were lit. People were arguing about Jesus. Some said he was a good man; others said he was leading people astray. And Jesus is teaching in the temple, in the area by the treasury, close to the court where those great lamps stood.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Imagine hearing that in the very place where the giant lamps had just blazed. They remembered the pillar of fire that led Israel through the desert at night. They remembered the prophets' promise that God's light would shine on a people walking in darkness. And here is Jesus saying: that light is me. Follow me, and you will never be lost in the dark.

Not long afterwards, Jesus and his disciples pass a man by the road. He has been blind since birth. He has never seen a sunrise, a face, a colour. The disciples ask a question people often asked then. Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus says neither. This happened so that the works of God might be shown in him. And then he says it again: as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Then Jesus does something unusual. He spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, and spreads it on the man's eyes. Go, he says, wash in the pool of Siloam. The man feels his way through the streets and down the steps to the pool. He kneels at the water's edge and washes. And when he lifts his face, there is light. Shapes. Colours. The sparkle of water. For the first time in his life, he sees. John says simply: he went, and washed, and came back seeing. The light of the world had shone on him.

The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish teaching written down around AD 200, describes the lamps of the Feast of Tabernacles. Great golden lampstands stood in the Court of the Women, with wicks made from the worn-out clothes of the priests. It says there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not shine with their light. And in 2004, workers in Jerusalem uncovered the steps of the Pool of Siloam from the time of Jesus.

The Light of the World. You'll find it in John chapter eight, verse twelve, and chapter nine, verses one to seven. The baby born on a dark night in Bethlehem grew up to say, I am the light of the world. So here is a question to carry with you. Where do you need Jesus' light to help you see more clearly?