Absolute

John 8:12-20

“I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

I was wondering if you consider the statement above an absolute?  It seems that Jesus had strong feelings about who He was, and His value to anyone who follows him.  The declaration of being the light of the world seems to come from someone with total power and authority, and who has unconditional ownership of that title.  If a person was going to make a statement that was that conclusive, what are the possibilities that somebody is going to want them to back up that statement with evidence of proof, and that is precisely what the Pharisees did to Jesus?

So who were the Pharisees; a group of very religious men who claimed that they   received the backing and goodwill of the common people, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees. Pharisees claimed prophetic or Mosaic authority for their interpretation of Jewish law, while the Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as High Priest. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia with my input)  Yes, the Pharisees saw themselves as set apart, and as the keepers of the Law of Moses, but they also were the ones who added laws to what Moses had given them.  These are the guys who confronted Jesus on His statement above.

Picking up the story in verse 13, “So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.  In your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.  I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”  (Verses 13-18)

Jesus tells that group of Pharisees, “for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.”  What a message you and I need today, why, because we live in a society with no understanding of where it has come from or where it is going.  The average person on the street has little or no understanding of our history or our Constitution and it seven articles and 26 amendments, and I’m including this writer in that group to some degree.  So if we are uneducated about the documents that allow us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom of speech, and worship, of travel, the freedom to fail or to succeed were the Pharisees that different from us? 

You see they like many of us had a strong belief system, but much like our politicians they believed the law were for their constituents but did not apply to them.  If they only knew Jesus then they would have know His Father!  One of Jesus disciples, Philip ask the very same question that these Pharisees ask of Jesus in John 14:8, “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  My dear reader, it hinges on this; do you believe Jesus tells the truth?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice