John 8:12-30
Advent Series: One of the emphases of John’s gospel–in fact, the emphasis with which he begins his gospel–is that Jesus existed before the incarnation. Though that’s commonly understood among us as Christians, consider the strangeness and the offense this idea presented to John’s first readers: a man who spoke of existing before he was conceived. To enhance our sense of wonder at the birth of Christ, we’ll examine a few of these places in John where he and/or Jesus himself make reference to the fact that Jesus’ life did not begin here on earth. Rather he was sent to earth from the glory of heaven itself with a very specific mission.
Synopsis: Jesus’ famous claim to be the light of the world prompts a debate about the validity of his testimony since he (apparently) has no other witness to back him up. Jesus uses the debate as an opportunity to more fully explain how he is the light of the world; namely, he’s come to earth to speak for, do the will of, and perfectly reveal the Father. Without Christ’s coming to shine the light of life in this dark world, we’re destined to try to come up with our own misguided notions of who God is, why we’re here, where we’re going, or what we most need–a hopeless stumbling that leads only to death (v.24). But in Christ, and especially in the ‘lifted up’ (v.28) Christ (i.e. crucified), we come face to face with the clearest revelation of who God is and what he’s really like.