Light Of The World (part 2 of 2)

As one progresses through the eighth chapter of John, the final day of the feast is reached.  It is that day on which it is said that “Jesus stood up and shouted out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me, and let the one who believes in Me drink.  Just as the Scripture says, “From within Him will flow rivers of living water”’” (7:37b-38).  With these words, Jesus quotes prophecies (and calls to mind entire sections of the writings as they are set within Israel’s historical narrative) from Isaiah and Zechariah that would have been considered to be unmistakably messianic in nature, as they were connected to God’s redemptive actions on behalf of His people. 

Accordingly, because of the messianic overtones of the pronouncements, along with what was known about Jesus, and the generalized expectation of a long-hoped-for divine intervention on behalf of His people, “When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, ‘This really is the prophet!’  Others said, ‘This is the Christ!’  But still others said, ‘No, for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does He?’” (7:40-41)  The record of this particular Gospel indicates that it was words like these, with their clear messianic underpinnings combined with Jesus’ seeming reluctance to conform to messianic ideals or to solicit the support of the rulers of the people, that prompted the chief priests and Pharisees to want to seize Jesus with the intention of putting Him to death.  In addition, it seems that, for them, this issue of Jesus’ place of origin was a sticking point.  With that piece of information alone, believing themselves to be fully cognizant of the full story when it came to Jesus place of birth and residence, His opponents seized on this piece of information.      

From there, the reader/hearer of the Johannine Gospel will go on to read about Nicodemus, who first made an appearance in the third chapter of John.  Nicodemus, who had obviously become a believer (probably owing to his interactions with Jesus), defends Jesus, saying “Our law doesn’t condemn a man unless it first hears from him and learns what he is doing, does it?” (7:51).  The response offered to this was “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you?  Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee!” (7:52)  There was a relative certainty amongst those that were taken to be learned in these things that the Messiah would not spring from that region, which brings us to our main point, and the fact that, with the elimination of the story of the woman caught in adultery, it is immediately following these words that the author has Jesus diffusing the entire “Galilee issue” by saying, “I am the light of the world.  The one who follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12).  How so? 

Turning to Matthew (while acknowledging that John does not depend on Matthew, and that the two authors, or authorial communities, had different purposes for the story of Jesus that they told (though we could certainly expect the sweep of the Jesus tradition to have been in the mind of all of the authors, especially John, which is taken to have come last of the four Gospels), we find him quoting from Isaiah in regards to Jesus and the fulfillment of messianic hopes as he writes, “Galilee of the Gentiles---the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and on those who sit in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned” (4:15b-16).  To “Galilee of the Gentiles” and the associated “great light,” could be added Simeon’s prophecy that is recorded in the second chapter of Luke, in which he calls the Messiah “a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel” (2:32). 

Thus, considering the passage in John again, while a believer is certainly likely to confess a certain knowledge that Jesus is the light and hope of the world, Jesus’ words concerning light in this context, provided further context by talk of Galilee,  were pronounced with a clear, prophetic and historical referent.  Thus, this was not simply a spiritual saying as it is so often taken to be, and it is not to be disconnected from the very realistic situation that Jesus was addressing.  By saying what He said, Jesus should be understood to have been making it clear that He was, in fact, the Messiah.