Introduction to the text:
Our gospel reading is again a long one. It will be hard to follow and seem complex to our ears. It is tempting to break this long chapter into a series of small pieces and preach on each. But doing that would turn it into a series of morality lessons and heady theological concepts. That is not its point. Hopefully by doing it all at once we can understand its point.
I doubt John 8 was complex to its original hearers. It probably made perfect sense. We need to understand the context of their lives. If their context sounds familiar it is because they appear to be in the same situation that the original readers of Matthew’s gospel were in. We just read Matthew earlier this year.
John was probably written late in the first century. Scholars tend to date it to the year 80. If that’s correct then there was a lot going on in the lives of Jewish people. In the late 60’s there were violent Jewish revolts against the Romans. The Romans had eventually had enough of it and decided to destroy Jerusalem in the year 70. That meant more than just the destruction of the temple. It was the destruction of the heart of Judaism. It also appears as if most of the Jewish sects were either killed or too scattered to continue. One and only one branch of Judaism survived the Roman destruction. That was the Pharisees. They were the ones who had local synagogues throughout the region. Even so, their existence was precarious late in the first century. And so when the subsect of the Nazarenes, or “Christians” as they would come to be called, continued to exist and expand within the already weak and scared Pharisees, the situation boiled over. The Christians were kicked out. Those who were kicked out had likely lost family, friends, and their social support system. Being a Christian was also potentially dangerous as they never knew what the Romans would do. And so gospels like Matthew’s and John’s are the writings of these scared and weak communities who followed Jesus. We have to remember as we read these texts that their opponents, the Pharisees, were dealing with their own problems that felt overwhelming. In what we are about to read the Pharisees are made out to be the bad guys, but the text is really using them as a means to give hope to a church community that is struggling to have any hope in God at all.
Sermon:
The gospel reading started off with Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) That reminds me of the time several years ago I was at synod assembly at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. It was a break time between the business sessions and one of my colleagues asked me if I could help her husband use the rest room. He is completely blind and needs to be led when he’s in unfamiliar territory. Wanting to be helpful, I agreed. But I didn’t realize what I’d agreed to!
I couldn’t guide him by the arm because there were too many people around. Plus, the entrance to the bathroom is narrow with multiple doors. He put a hand on my shoulder and walked behind me. It was hard to walk trying to anticipate his pace as he too navigated a complex space he could not see. I got him to the line of urinals and tried to explain the type they were. It is absolutely true that a picture is worth a thousand words! Despite my attempts to describe them, he determined the best thing to do was to reach out his hands and feel the shape. I immediately made a note to myself that he was going to wash his hands thoroughly after this. And despite the narrow space and crowded conditions I did grab his upper arm and lead him to the sinks. But once again, it took a lot of words to describe where the faucets were, and how they worked since they were the electronic eye kind. I had to get the soap for him. (He needed it!) And I had to navigate him to the hand dryers. What I thought would be a simple thing turned into a lengthy tiring experience.
How simple it is to use a public bathroom when you can see. How difficult it is to do such a simple thing when you are blind!
How difficult is it to navigate a strange room in the dark? How difficult is it to navigate a familiar room in the dark!?! Spatial reality is not what you expected! Yet turn the lights on and everything becomes easy.
Jesus says he is the light of the world. It would be wonderful if simply bringing Jesus into your life lit up all the darkness of the world around you and everything became crystal clear and easy. If that is your faith experience, then consider yourself very fortunate and blessed. That is not the case for most people. It was not the case for John’s original readers. If Jesus was the light of the world then why was life still so difficult? Why was it so hard to see? And why was it so hard for their opponents to see as well?
We get answers to that in verse 28 for that is the key to the whole passage. Jesus says, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he…” By lifting up he means his crucifixion and death.
That is the eternally ironic truth of Christianity. It is that the way to be your truest fullest self is to give yourself away. Now be careful with that. I did not say give up yourself. That would be depressing and it would suggest that you have no value. But when you give yourself away then you realize you are giving something of great value. Jesus never gives up his life. He gives away his life.
In so doing, in Jesus’ crucifixion and death God shows first hand his deep and abiding love for all, even those who want nothing to do with God. The cross is paradoxical. It always has been and it always will be. I often wonder as people wear crosses as jewelry, do they really realize they are displaying an execution device as a symbol of love?
That is the light of the world. But it certainly looks like foolishness to the world!
Today we have the baptism of Ariana Barnes. As always, it’s a joyful time for a family. But baptism begins the paradoxes of faith. Being baptized is being baptized into the death of Jesus. It is dying to the old way of sin so as to rise to the new life in Christ’s light. But the world is still a dark place and it does not see the light of Christ. The light of Christ remains a paradox.
Ariana’s parents and godparents will make promises. They may seem like a long and ponderous list:
“to live with her among God’s faithful people,
to bring her to the word of God and the holy supper,
to teach her the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,
place in her hands the holy scriptures,
to nurture her in faith and prayer”
But this is not to be a long and demanding list. This is a realization that the ways of “giving of self” are counter to the ways of the world. They are ironic, paradoxical, or whatever word you want to use for them. Light doesn’t always seem like light. And they recognize that we all learn and grow in different ways. From a psychological perspective that list embraces intellectual connections, physical connections, community connections, and individual connections. In other words, those things embrace the fullness of her. It is to shed light on her so that she may see the world and navigate it with faith and confidence.
Though almost 2000 years old, our gospel reading speaks to us today quite clearly. Though the technicalities of the issues may have changed, the truth is that the world is still in darkness. People work long and hard in the dark bumping into things and not getting anywhere. But God’s light is always there and always around. It’s just not visible if you demand that it fit human ideas of success.
May Ariana begin a journey of light today. And may we all live in the light of Christ witnessing to it to in the world.
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