The Light's Exposure

And getting past the blame game.

Jesus picks up here with another I AM statement tied to an image: the light of the world.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t just declare himself as the light and leave it there. He invites people to walk in that light. It’s not a passive thing. Light isn’t just something we observe from a distance—it’s something we have to choose to follow.

The religious leaders, standing right there in front of Jesus, are both literally and metaphorically in the light, but they refuse to see it. Their eyes are wide open, but their hearts are closed. And maybe that’s the harder truth here, both in this passage and those we are observing around us today. Sometimes we can be surrounded by light and still prefer the comfort of familiar shadows.

Why? Because light exposes things. It reveals truth—not just about God, and not just about the world around us…but about ourselves. And that can be uncomfortable. It might mean facing things we’d rather ignore, about our assumptions, our habits, our pride.

But Jesus doesn’t shine light to shame us—he shines light to lead us. To show us the way to life.

So the question isn’t just whether we see the light. The question is: Will we see it and follow it?

John 8:12-30

Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.”

Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.”

They asked him, “Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come.

Jesus continued, “I’m going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you can’t come.”

The Jewish leaders said, “He isn’t going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, ‘Where I’m going, you can’t come’?”

He said to them, “You are from below; I’m from above. You are from this world; I’m not from this world. This is why I told you that you would die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.”

“Who are you?” they asked.

Jesus replied, “I’m exactly who I have claimed to be from the beginning. I have many things to say in judgment concerning you. The one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They didn’t know he was speaking about his Father. So Jesus said to them, “When the Human One is lifted up, then you will know that I Am. Then you will know that I do nothing on my own, but I say just what the Father has taught me. He who sent me is with me. He doesn’t leave me by myself, because I always do what makes him happy.” While Jesus was saying these things, many people came to believe in him.

Psalm 27:1-5

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone?

The Lord is a fortress protecting my life. Should I be frightened of anything?

When evildoers come at me trying to eat me up—it’s they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall! If an army camps against me, my heart won’t be afraid. If war comes up against me, I will continue to trust in this: I have asked one thing from the Lord—it’s all I seek: to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, seeing the Lord’s beauty and constantly adoring his temple. Because he will shelter me in his own dwelling during troubling times; he will hide me in a secret place in his own tent; he will set me up high, safe on a rock.

Prayer

God,

You are the light of the world, and yet, I confess—sometimes I’d rather not see it. Sometimes it feels easier to stay in familiar shadows, to avoid what your light might expose in me: my pride, my assumptions, the places where I’ve grown too comfortable or complacent. It’s very easy to cast blame today, to focus anger, and to point my finger.

It’s. So. Darn. Easy.

But you didn’t send Jesus just to expose. You sent him to show the way to through light to truth and love. The light isn’t here to shame me (or others) — it’s here to lead us. So today, help me to choose it. Help me to step into the truth you offer, even when it’s uncomfortable. Lead me past the anger to action.

And beyond myself, God, I see a world that seems to wrestle with the same tension. We grasp at easy answers, we point fingers, we retreat into our corners when the light gets too bright. But your light shines for all of us. It exposes not just individual hearts, but systems and structures, too. So give me courage, Lord—not just to see your light, but to follow it, wherever it leads.

Lead me in love. Lead me in truth. Lead me in the way that brings life.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.