Series: Committed
Message: Authenticity
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 63:1-4.
Read: John 8:12-30 (NLT). As you read the New Living Translation, note 1-3 insights/questions.
Reflect: In N. T. Wright’s commentary, John for Everyone, he shares this insight into the metaphor that Jesus used to describe himself:
The idea of God calling someone to be the means of bringing light to the world is rooted in ancient Judaism. There, in the prophet Isaiah in particular, it is Israel who will be the world’s true light. But, ultimately, it is the Lord’s servant who is anointed to bring God’s truth and justice to the world, and who at the climax of the book dies a cruel death to achieve the goal (Isaiah 42.6; 49.6; 53.1–12; 60.1, 3). The claim to be the world’s true light, like so much that Jesus says in this gospel, is not in itself a claim to be divine (though John believes that, and wants us to believe it too); it is a claim to be Israel’s Messiah. It is, in principle, a claim that we can imagine other would-be Messiahs of the period making. After all, the last great would-be Messiah in this period was Simeon ben-Kosiba, who led a revolution in AD 132–35, and who became known as bar-Kochba, “son of the star”. He was, so his followers believed, a great light sent from heaven.
But the light that God intends to bring illumination to the whole world is the same light that shines relentlessly into the world’s dark corners. And when it does so it brings judgment. Throughout the gospel it’s clear that Jesus had not basically come to judge the world, or Israel, or individuals; but it’s also clear that the fact of his coming to bring rescue, salvation, life and hope would inevitably have the effect of condemning those who didn’t want any of those things, those who were so steeped in evil that the coming of light was bad news for them, not good news. (p. 116).
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for freedom to hear and speak..
Research: Watch Brene Brown’s TED Talk, “The Power of Vulnerability.”