NOTES for Joh 8:12

Jesus uses an image that should immediately call to mind for His hearers the prophecies about the Messiah, compare, for example, Isa. 9:2; Isa. 60:1-3. And judging by their later reaction, that is what happens, but they refuse to believe that these prophecies are being fulfilled here, right before their eyes. The boldness of Jesus' statement may provoke protest in some of us, but instead of protesting at once, let us think about what follows if this is really true.

In Psalm 118/119 it says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." A similar phrase is also in the book of Proverbs (6:23). Why, then, does Jesus say that without Him people walk in darkness? Presumably because the light of the word, of the law and the commandment, shines only on the paths of the law, and those who do not keep the commandments are outside this light. Jesus brings with Himself the fulfillment of the law, and therefore wherever He is, there is light. He is the Word in the flesh, and therefore the true light. Then a path opens for people, a path illumined by the Word, the path of Christ, the path that Jesus walked before us; and we need only follow Him, walk in His footsteps, and see everything around us and within ourselves in the true light!

Perhaps we should not protest, but risk believing that this is so. The gain is so great!