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John 3:16-17
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John 3:16-17
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"How do you know my name?" my professor asked. As a young philosopher, I wanted an impressive answer. What is the evidence? Are there any logical fallacies? Maybe I could say, "I verified your identity with the course catalog." But where did the university get his name? I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and admitted, "Because you told it to me."
John 8:12-20
Jesus spoke to them again: "I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life." So the Pharisees said to him, "You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid." "Even if I testify about myself," Jesus replied, "My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge by human standards. I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me." Then they asked him, "Where is your Father?" "You know neither me nor my Father," Jesus answered. "If you knew me, you would also know my Father." He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
For a week, four massive oil lamps, perched on tall columns, had lit the city of Jerusalem ablaze. Pilgrims had likely been joyfully reciting a beloved prophecy from their Scriptures, "Then the LORD my God will come and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight will diminish. It will be a unique day known only to the LORD, without day or night, but there will be light at evening" (Zechariah 14:5b-7). As the oil burns out and the light fades, Jesus walks into the dimming courtyard and declares, "I am the light of the world." To John's readers, it would be obvious that Jesus is fulfilling God's promise. Once again, the light is shining in the darkness (John 1:5). Ironically, those who claim to be experts about God cannot hear his voice. When God says, "I am God, I am here" they arrogantly claim, "But we don't know you or your Father." Jesus dismantles their objections. He points out that they are evaluating him by his reputation and credentials. Instead of connecting the dots between the Scripture they've recited and his revelation, they can only see an unqualified, low-status Galilean. You can't prove that light exists by assembling evidence in a pitch-black room. You walk outside and open your eyes. Light doesn't need a character witness. Either you see it or you don't. I remember sitting in the cafeteria at B.C. Law with a skeptical student. He pummeled me with his arguments, and I know he felt he won our debates. For me, the hardest part of the conversation was seeing him take in a sound argument and immediately pivot to an objection. He'd already decided to outsmart me, and so he did. John's gospel meets us in our doubts. It's an eyewitness account, intimately familiar with the architecture, customs, and arguments of Jesus' day. But at the heart of it, a human is claiming that to hear his voice is to encounter God. What else but the resurrection could convince John and his friends that Jesus was who he claimed to be? At the perfect time, Jesus revealed that he was the Light of the world.
Have your assumptions about God ever kept you from knowing God?
What "human standards" do you tend to filter God through before you'll trust what he's showing you about his identity?
Is there something Jesus has revealed about himself that you've been overcomplicating instead of simply receiving?
Ask a friend, "What's one thing God has revealed to you about who he is?" Then share your answer.
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