"I Am the Light of the World"

Throughout the book of John, Jesus makes very distinct, extensive, and exorbitant proclamations about Himself and what He is in the world. One of these proclamations is made in John 8:12 when Jesus says, “...‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,’ ” and again in John 9:5, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” These verses say that Jesus is the light of the world, and by using the hermeneutical method, it can be determined what is said in the verses, what they mean, and what they mean to me personally.

What was written and said in the book of John was primarily meant for the Jews to show them that Jesus is the Son of God, and that they must put their faith in Him for life and salvation, which is the theme of the Gospel (Krejcir). In these verses, Jesus says that since He is the Son of God, if you know Him then you know His Father. In addition, He tells the people that “...‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world’ ” (John 8:23). Furthermore, He not only refers to Himself as the Son of God, but also the Son of Man. This relates to the fact that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Because He is the Son of God, Jesus is perfect and without sin, so when He was born into the world by the virgin Mary, He became God in the flesh. Although, He did not just become God in the flesh, but also the light of the world. Because this world is full of sin, humanity needs a light in the darkness. Jesus is this light. Without Him, it is difficult for one to find the path that was created by God for them. By not pursuing Him, people end up walking down the wrong path of their life. If people seek Jesus, then they will not stray from the true purpose and potential of their life. Following Jesus is the key to unlocking the true purpose of people’s lives. Because of these reasons, humanity needs Jesus. To people’s spirits, Jesus is like food. Bodies need food to survive, and if they are not given enough food, then they start to slowly die and deteriorate. This is what happens to people’s spirits when they are not spiritually fed with God’s word and a relationship with Jesus. Basically, without food, the body dies, and without Jesus, the spirit dies. Overall, it is more difficult for a human to live up to their full potential and purpose without the light of Jesus guiding them on their path.

These events further relate to the meaning of the Gospel of John. In John chapter 8, a woman committed adultery because she was not allowing Jesus to guide her down the true path of her life. This resulted in the scribes and Pharisees catching the woman in adultery, so they brought her to Jesus because they wanted to see what Jesus would say. They were hoping that they would be able to use Jesus’ response against Him. If He said to stone her, then that would not align with His teachings, but if he said not to stone her, then it would seem as if He did not care about the public morals. Although, when the woman was brought to Jesus, He said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Once they heard this, the people left because Jesus outmatched them (John). Then Jesus said to the woman “...‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more’ ” (John 8:11). These scriptures show that Jesus is the light to all people around the world no matter how terrible of a sin they have committed. Jesus continuously forgives people who are broken and have committed horrible acts of sin. He does this because He is the light of all the world, and if He did not, then He could only be the light to part of the world. All of these events took place during the first century, around 27-36AD (Krejcir). During this time, the people looked to their religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, for guidance because they were the closest thing the people had to God (First-Century). Although, when Jesus was given to humanity by God, the people no longer needed religious leaders to look to because they had God on Earth with them. Unfortunately, many people did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, so they continued to listen to the religious leaders. Even in the presence of God, if the people did not have strong beliefs, then Jesus’ claims seemed unreasonable and foolish. This is mainly because one person, who is not God, cannot be the light to the entire world because there is no human on Earth who is pure enough to be a light in the darkness of sin. Furthermore, it is impossible for one person to come into contact with every other person on the planet in their lifetime. This could only be done by someone who is God in the flesh, which is who Jesus is.

Each person can read this claim Jesus makes personally, so I read it as “I am Faith’s light of the world.” This is significant to me because I need a guiding light through life. I know where I want to go, but I’m not sure how to get there. I cannot find my path on my own, so I need Jesus to be my light. By reading and studying John 8:12; 9:5, my belief in Christ and my relationship with Him has strengthened. This is because these verses have shown me that Jesus is a light to everyone, so no matter how sinful I am, Jesus will always be there for me. No matter how alone or empty I feel, I will always have Jesus. He will always guide me when I need it, and He will always be there even when everything around me seems like it’s falling apart. Moreover, these verses also impact my behavior because I now know that I do not have to be afraid of what is to come in my future because Jesus is there to light my path. Furthermore, these verses have helped me realize things in all the different parts of my life. In my personal life, this has helped me realize that God already has my path laid out for me, so I just need to follow Jesus and work hard to get there. This has also taught me that in my school life, I am not the only one who is currently following their path, which means that my life is meant to cross with the lives of all my classmates and teachers. We are all in each other's lives for a reason. In addition, my path is also meant to cross with all the people in my community. This means that I need to use this opportunity presented to me to make an impact on these people’s lives. Especially if they do not know Jesus. These scriptures have even made an impact on the way I view my parent’s paths. These verses helped me to realize that my parents are already far along on their paths, and part of each of their path was to get married and have me. Out of all the places they could have lived, they lived in Texas, and out of all the people they knew, they married each other. There were so many things that could have happened, but in the end, I was born. There is no way that is a coincidence. I am here for a reason. Because of what these verses have made me realize, I do not have any questions that I need answered because I trust Jesus and believe in Him. What He says is truth, and I do not question that. I am content with knowing and having a relationship with Him, so I do not feel like I need to question anything He does even though some things still puzzle me. Basically, if all these miraculous things happened, then I have no reason to doubt that Jesus has an amazing plan for my life.

Because I have read and studied these verses, I have learned so much. In my eyes, it is clear that Jesus’ claims are true, and that He is the light of the world. By applying the hermeneutical method to these verses, I now firmly know what I believe about what these verses say, mean, and what they mean to me.