“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Jesus offers a simple statement. Follow me, have life. But the Pharisees are too caught up in the darkness to hear his invitation. They’re hung up on technicalities:
The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”
Jesus sees through their games and takes the opportunity to corroborate his identity:
“These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”
I am the Light. I lead to Life. My Father has sent me.
They miss the point. They miss the invitation. I grieve for the Pharisees, sometimes the Pharisee in me who gets too caught up in finger-pointing, score keeping to simply receive the open invitation to walk in the Light.
The invitation is simple. It’s not found in rule keeping or courtside calls. It’s in walking with the most perfect human who ever lived to be more like him. The God-man. Isn’t life more appealing than rules? Come walk in freedom.
Sixty-six books in a year 