12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. 17 Even in your Law it has been written that the testimony of two people is [e]true. 18 I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” 19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
21 Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that [g]I am, you will die in your sins.” 25 Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “[h]What have I even been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to say and to judge regarding you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I say to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that [i]I am, and I do nothing [j]on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He [k]has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He said these things, many came to believe in Him.
“Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham [s]was born, [t]I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds.
The words of Jesus.
11 comments:
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Dan
Interestingly, this marvelous passage is the second half of John 8, wherein the first half, we have the so-called "adulterous" woman who was allegedly "caught in the act of adultery" (somehow, miraculously, without the man ALSO being caught... how did THAT work?!!). She was so "caught" by the Pharisees, who then gracelessly brought her out, publicly shaming her, and asked Jesus to bless them in stoning her to death (as the "scriptures" literally taught should be done), with the Pharisees both being pigs for this assault on this woman AND trying to catch Jesus in a "gotcha" moment by seeing if he would "defy" the scriptures.
And the first half of that passage resolves with Jesus saying those lovely words of grace:
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
She was "caught in the act." She deserved to be killed, if you took the scriptural texts literally. But apparently Jesus didn't know that, because he just forgave her and refused to condemn her. Stupid Jesus!
(in case anyone can't tell, that's irony, another type of figurative language.)
From there, in some of the verses left out in what you cited, we have this transaction between the Grace-based Jesus and the legalism-based Pharisees...
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.
And then, we get to much of what you quoted.
Cont'd...
Continuing, there is this exchange between Jesus of Grace and Pharisees of Scripture and Legalism:
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.”
It's not the text, ripped out of context that makes something True. It's whether or not it agrees with God, with Love, with Grace, with Justice. What a blessed lesson for those of us who may be tempted to use "scripture" as a bludgeon, rather than to defend grace and love and justice.
Jesus is the light of the world. A light of love, of grace, of justice.
And, literally according to Jesus, WE, TOO are the light of the world. A light of love, grace and justice. For that is from God.
From Matthew 5...
“You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you,
love your enemies,
bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be sons of your God in heaven...
“YOU are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before people,
that they may see your good works and glorify your God in heaven."...
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away,
one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till
all is fulfilled.
And WHAT did Jesus tell us was "the law..."?
In Matthew 22, he made clear that Love God, Love humanity... LOVE, this summarizes the law.
Again, thanks be to God for these holy words affirming love, grace and justice as God's Way. And when SOME might try to read biblical texts too literally and find a ruling like, "women who commit adultery should be killed!" we can recognize that this is NOT Scripture because it is not of love, grace or justice.
Amen and amen.
Let's ignore that the adulterous woman passage is likely a later addition and therefore probably not a text to be taken quite so literally and take it in a woodenly literal fashion.
Let's also ignore that Jesus told the woman "Go and leave your life of sin.". He didn't tell her to feed the poor, clothe the naked, or minister to prisoners, but instead to stop her sin.
Yes, Jesus and the Pharisees did discuss the old Jewish custom regarding testifying for ones self. Jesus point was not to tell then that their custom was wrong, but to point out that it didn't apply to Him in His unique position as 1/3 of the Godhead. Further, His testimony seems to clearly point to some alternate reality where He (and the thief on the cross) would soon be going. Interesting.
It's also interesting that Jesus statement about "passing judgement on no one" seems to contradict the other passages about Jesus returning for the purpose of judging all.
Interesting notion.
1. Jesus, "being one with YHWH, would actually be in a position to know with certainty what "agrees with" YHWH.
2. You, not being Jesus, do not have any grounds for the same degree of certainty.
3. That something or someone can "agree with" YHWH doesn't automatically mean that they have perfect knowledge. Sometimes "agreeing with" YHWH might happen coincidentally.
4. Given that scripture is one of the primary sources for us to learn what might "agree with" YHWH, it would seem that look at scripture with that attitude would be a good practice.
Well done, ripping a cherry picked passage out of context, to do some minimal eisegesis, to support your preconceived notions about things is par for the source for you.
Yes, Jesus did come to "fulfill" the law through His atonement. He was clear that He wasn't to "destroy" the law, nor was to to get rid of the law, but eiesgete away.
"And when SOME might try to read biblical texts too literally and find a ruling like, "women who commit adultery should be killed!" we can recognize that this is NOT Scripture because it is not of love, grace or justice."
Except in the time of Jesus, that WAS the Law. In the passage about the adulterous woman, Jesus didn't negate the Law in any way. Indeed, He encouraged the one among the accusers who was without sin to cast the first stone. If He was doing away with that sentence for those convicted of adultery, He would have said so. But as He was dealing with those trying to entrap Him with a "damned if He does, damned if He doesn't" ploy, He addressed that sinful attempt with His response. Jesus had no legal authority to condemn anyone to death, but by telling the woman to "go and sin no more", He certainly judged her to be a sinner. We condemn our own selves with our sin.
This is nothing more than another attempt to free yourself from God's Will by supposing you're "understanding Scripture aright". It's glaringly obvious to us. How much more so to Him?
I will say once again that what the Pharisees were guilty of is adding to the Law. They refer to Oral Law, for which there is no evidence such was ever handed down to them as they insist was the case. Nowhere in the Torah does it mention such a thing, and all references by Christ is a reminder of what is written over what they heard was said.
We love God and our neighbor by following God's commandments, not pretending some ambiguous "love" negates His commandments. Thus, you admonitions that our reminders of what Scripture says is akin to the made up crap of the Pharisees, that we're "legalists" for stating the truth about immoral behaviors, particularly those you embrace. That's not condemnation. Your embrace of immorality is you condemning yourself.
Art,
As far as Jesus being the Law, I'm not sure I agree that it goes that far, but I get your point. Obviously, Jesus was the one (as the second person of the Godhead and eternally in existence) who promulgated that Law in the first place. But I'm not sure if He actually was the law.
To your point, in the case of the woman found in adultery, you are correct. He didn't minimize the "crime", nor did He simply dismiss the punishment. His response did two things. 1. It made the point that He was the only one worthy to impose the punishment, being without sin. 2. He exposed the hypocrisy of His accusers who were not concerned with enforcing the law as much as with trapping Jesus. Having said that, as the one who will eventually judge all for their sins, He is in the position to commute the sentence of this woman. Part of the point in this story (if it's true) is that Jesus knew the intent of the accusers, and was able to turn their attempt against them.
Correct, He did acknowledge that her sin was real and "judged" her for it. He also gave her a "suspended sentence" in a sense. He gave her the opportunity to repent and follow Him, yet we don't know what she chose to do. One hopes that she who was forgiven much, chose to follow Him.
In Dan's world "rightly divining" scripture is code for agreeing with Dan's hunches.
Good point. The Law as established in the OT, was given from YHWH. The Jewish religious leaders gradually added things to the law that went beyond the original. I believe that their intent was good, in that they wanted to help people by providing more detail, yet in practice they heaped more and more responsibilities on Israel to the point it became impossible to keep track of. Which actually kind of reinforces the point of the Law, that no one can keep the Law 100% and that we need someone to save us.
Yeah, that pesky old loving Jesus means keeping His commandments thing is hard to rationalize.
I didn't actually say "Jesus was the Law", but only that the Law regarding stoning adulterers was in effect during His time on earth.
My bad, I misread your comment.
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