Can I Get a Light?

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” What kind of light is he? There are warm lights. Think of the morning sunrise and how it gently bathes the landscape. Think of the setting sun and how it reluctantly releases the day into night. One of my favorite lights is a soft reading light from and old-fashioned lampstand like my grandparents had in their house. Keep your fluorescent bulbs to yourself. I’ll take that warm, incandescent glow any evening. The only thing better is candlelight – a single candle flickering in the darkness. And the only thing better than a single candle is the candles of sixty campers at a vespers service the last night of camp; or the sanctuary filled with worshippers on Christmas Eve, every face lit by candlelight.

I would like, now, to illustrate a different kind of light. Can I have two volunteers?

Harsh light. Harsh light is light that is unflattering. It’s not like the glow of a lampstand or candlelight which enhances everything. Harsh light makes things look hard and out of place. Harsh light accuses. It brings a glare but offers no warmth. There is a Seinfeld episode in which Jerry is dating a girl who, in good lighting, is a pleasantly attractive woman. But to Jerry’s surprise, when she is caught in bad lighting, her features turn harsh and unattractive, almost to the point where he doesn’t recognize her. It’s a different woman. Harsh light has a way of doing that.

There is quite a bit of difference between warm light and harsh light. What kind of light is Jesus?

I think many people fear God’s light. Like cockroaches fleeing the room when the light is turned on, we flee the light of God’s truth, afraid of what the light might show about us. Like the Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men, we are afraid that, “we can’t handle the truth!”

In John 8 we read that the scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman who has been caught in adultery. You need to know that in Judaism at that time adultery meant sexual relations outside marriage on the part of a married woman. Her husband could cheat on her, but it was only considered adultery if his affair was with another married woman. Another thing to keep in mind was that adultery was an offense very difficult to prove, especially by the standards of Jewish law, which required two witnesses to everything. You had to be “caught in the act” by not one, but two people. It had to be indisputable.

So they bring a woman who has supposedly been caught in the act by two witnesses. This raises an immediate question. Where is the man? It takes two to commit adultery. The woman can’t do it all by herself. Unless, this was a trap for the woman. Unless previous arrangements had been made to allow the man to slip out undetected and unpunished. Here was the woman, a known sinner, and the religious folk wanted to see her punished. The law said to stone her to death. Well, the law didn’t mention stoning in particular. That was a later addition. What the current law of the land, the Roman Law, said was that the Jews needed the Romans permission to execute anyone.

So the scribes and Pharisees go to Jesus and ask him, “What do you say we should do?” If Jesus says go ahead and stone her, he has not only come across as uncaring but also as teaching rebellion against Roman rule. If he says let her go, he is soft on sin and condoning of adultery. Not only has the trap been set for this poor woman, but the trap has been set for Jesus.

This is truth in a harsh light. This is the Pharisees brand of truth which tricks and hurts people. Their truth tells people how bad they are but never gives them a way to be better. It diagnoses disease but offers no medicine. Unfortunately we have our modern day Pharisees. We have people who use the Bible and God to beat others with “truth”. But Jesus never uses truth that way. The closest he comes is in preaching against the very hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

With Jesus, truth doesn’t harm us. Truth heals us. It’s true that the light of truth will reveal sin in us.

“You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.”
Psalm 90.8

The sinner’s biggest fear is that they will be found out. David was worried that someone would find out about Bathsheba. That was his biggest worry and he did everything he could to cover up his sin. Adam and Eve were worried that God would find out about their disobedience. They covered themselves. They hid. What David and Adam and Eve didn’t know was that the worst thing that could happen to them was if no one found out. While in their sin they are comfortably on the path of destruction. They are hidden from the light of truth. They are not found out. Which is another of way of saying, they are lost.

Having our secret sins revealed can be an uncomfortable, disconcerting experience for us. But it is not hurtful to us. It is the first step in healing.

David Seamands, who was a professor of mine in seminary, and wrote some fine books on Christian counseling, told us about a young woman he had counseled once. The woman had come to him because she couldn’t change her life and didn’t see anyway out. She lived a promiscuous life and was weary of it but didn’t know what to do. She felt like she was a slave to lust and need for physical love. Seamands counseled the woman that her behavior was sinful and damaging to her, but indeed, it was possible for her to change. He counseled that God could give her power over these sinful impulses. The woman’s response to this was telling.

She said, “You mean, I don’t have to do what I feel like doing?” The relief in her voice was evident. The burden was lifted by the truth of God. The darkness of her life had been lifted by the light of Christ.


Scholars tell us that when Jesus made this great statement, “I am the light of the world,” it was in the aftermath of the great Jewish festival in Jerusalem called the Feast of Tabernacles. Another name for it was the Festival of Lights. The highlight of this feast was the lighting of the great candelabra. There were four of them and they were filled with oil by young men who to do this climbed ladders that, according to the Talmud, were fifty cubits high. This light from the lamps was so brilliant that, the Mishnah says, “there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not reflect the light.” Such brilliant illumination was a great occasion and seen but rarely in the ancient city. Have you ever been to Pittsburgh on Light Up Night? It was light up night in first century Jerusalem.

When the feast was over, of course, the great candelabra was extinguished. All the lesser lights were extinguished. Jerusalem went dark. And it was in this post-festival darkness that Jesus spoke:

“I am the light of the world.” It’s dark outside in the world, and Jesus is the candle.


We need to stop being afraid of truth and light. We need to stop believing stuff like, “You can’t handle the truth!” Lots of people live like that every day, all their lives, hiding from truth and light because they are afraid that the truth will be too hard, too ugly, too depressing. They want to keep the truth about themselves hidden in the dark.

But Jesus says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8.31-32

The truth and light of Jesus showed a woman in adultery and the crowd of accusers that there is a better way to live. There is forgiveness and there is healing. Go and sin no more. Surely this woman was ready for truth. It was the darkness, not the truth, that she couldn’t handle anymore.

Who are you going to believe, Jack Nicholson or Jesus?


“O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.” Psalm 43.3


“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” Psalm 36.9