New Testament Lesson #15 John 7–8
“I am the Light of the World”
Introduction
At the beginning of this week’s
reading, the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is taking place and Jesus’s
“brethren”— half-brothers and sisters—are urging him to go to Jerusalem with
them to celebrate it.
Sukkot is a seven-day festival, also known as the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles, or just
Tabernacles. It takes place on the 15–21 Tishrei. Mandated in Leviticus 23, to
commemorate the sojourn in the desert, Jews are required to construct booths
and “dwell” in them. This generally means taking meals, but some sleep in the sukkah
as well, particularly in Israel. There are specific rules for constructing a sukkah.
Along with dwelling in a sukkah,
the principal ritual unique to this holiday is use of the Four Species (lulav (palm), hadass (myrtle), aravah (willow) and etrog (citron). On each day of the
holiday other than Shabbat, these are waved in association with the recitation
of Hallel in the synagogue, then walked in a
procession around the synagogue called the Hoshanot.
The seventh day of the Sukkot is
called Hoshanah
Rabbah, the “Great Hoshanah” (singular of Hoshanot and
the source of the English word hosanna). The climax of the day's prayers
includes seven processions of Hoshanot around the synagogue.[1] Four
great Menorahs were lit in the temple and every day except the last, Drawing of
the Water was performed where water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and
processed to the temple to be poured on the altar.
Although this will not be the Savior’s
final trip to Jerusalem, His seeming reluctance to go is reminiscent of
Joseph’s leaving for Carthage: “When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself
up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his
assassination, he said: ‘I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm
as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and
towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was
murdered in cold blood’” (D&C 135:4).
His teachings at Jerusalem and his
confrontations with those who will finally succeed in contriving charges sufficient
to crucify Him show that Jesus is fully aware of the full extent of His
mission. While teaching at the Temple, He is disturbed by Elders bringing a
woman taken in adultery to justice and His rebuke of Her accusers leads well
into the events that will lead inexorably to His crucifixion, but gloriously to
His fulfilling His mission to the salvation not only of the now-repentant woman
but all mankind.
John 7
1–13: Jesus’s
“brethren” are the children of Mary and Joseph and therefore Jesus’s half
brothers and sisters (see Matthew 12:46). But they apparently did not believe
in Him. Any who are in a part-member family, whether you yourself are the only
member, or others in your family have gone astray, know the mixed blessings of
such a situtation. Yours is the responsibility and the joy to rescue the lost
sheep, to seek out your kindred dead, to show by the way you live that the path
you have chosen is the right one. But also there is the sadness and frustration
at not being able to have your non-member family see what you see, feel what
you feel, believe what you believe. In a way Christ’s brethren are putting Him
to the test, “There is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself
seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world”
(vs. 4). Notice the “if.” Despite all the evidences of their eyes, they
question Him. Talmage says, “It was not their prerogative to direct His
movements, not to say when He should do even what He intended to do eventually.
He made it plain that between their status and His there was essential
difference; they were of the world, which they loved as the world loved them;
but the world hated Him because of His testimony.”[2]
President Monson said, “We will all face fear, experience ridicule, and meet
opposition. Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus, the
courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of
God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is
regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully but also as the
determination to live decently. As we move forward, striving to live as we
should, we will surely receive help from the Lord and can find comfort in His
words.” [3]
Question: Does knowing that Christ shared the
frustrations of unbelieving family members and close friends help you in your
dealings with them? Is this where the “courage” that Pres. Monson talked about
comes in?
This was not the time for the
triumphal entry into Jerusalem foretold in the scriptures, so Jesus came
quietly in secret. But since His brethren were already there, they were
questioned as to where He was. The division between the Jewish people and their
leaders is evident here “Howbeit no man spoke openly of him for fear of the
Jews.” The sense here is that spoken or otherwise, the Jewish leaders had made
known their animosity towards Jesus.
14–36: In the middle of the
feast—probably around the third or fourth day—Jesus goes to the temple to
teach. From here on He is dealing with those who would silence Him. They first
question His scholarship, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”
(vs. 15), meaning not learned from them presumably. Jesus then gives His
authority to teach, and inextricably links faith with works. Then, in
desperation resorting to schoolyard taunts, they accuse Him of having a devil. Talmage
says, “His Teacher, greater even than Himself, was the Eternal Father, whose
will He proclaimed. The test proposed to determine the truth of His doctrine
was in every way fair, and withal simple; anyone who would earnestly seek to do
the will of the Father should know of himself whether Jesus spoke truth or
error. The Master proceeded to show that a man who speaks on his own authority
alone seeks to aggrandize himself. Jesus did not so; He honored His Teacher,
His Father, His God, not Himself; and therefore was He free from the taint of
selfish pride or unrighteousness. Moses had given them the
law, and yet, as Jesus affirmed, none of them kept the law.”[4]
If this rebuke were not enough, Jesus
then turns on His accusers, revealing that He knows their hearts and their
motivation, “Why go ye about to kill me?” He has healed a man on the Sabbath,
but as the rabbis well knew, according to the Mishnah, certain righteous
actions could supersede the Sabbath rules (Mishnah Yoma 85b). Their deceit is
revealed and they are dumbfounded—so much so that the ordinary people are
perplexed “Lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers
know indeed that this is the Christ?” (vs. 26). Then Jesus utters the testimony
that will give the rulers the initial ammunition they need to bring Him to
their corrupt justice, “Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not
come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him,
for I am from him, and he hath sent me.” The Temple police come for Him, but
eluded them.
37–53: The last
day of the Feast of the Tabernacles is the day upon which the daily practice of
pouring water from the Pool of Siloam on the altar of the temple ceased. Jesus
took this opportunity to assert Himself once again, as He did to the Samaritan
woman at the well, that He was the Living Water—again asserting the He was and
is God—and that the Spirit would be the bearer of that Living Water of truth
revelation after He had gone. The JST helps us understand, “for the Holy Ghost
was promised unto them who believe, after that Jesus was glorified” (vs. 39). Question: How have you felt the Spirit as
Living Water?
John 8
1–12: While
Jesus was teaching at the temple after the Feast had ended, the Elders of the
Jews apparently plotted to test Him in a way that “they might have way to
accuse him” (vs. 6). Interestingly, although Jewish law accuses not only the
woman taken in adultery but the man also, there is no mention of a man here,
even though the woman was “taken in adultery,” presumably in the act. There
were also no witnesses presented (some commentators feel that the man in
question was present with them). This was not a fair trial. The punishment was
death by stoning.
Talmage says, “Had Jesus decided that the wretched woman
ought to suffer death, her accusers might have said that he was defying the
existing authorities; and possibly the charge of opposition to the Roman
government might have been formulated, since power to inflict the death penalty
had been taken from all Jewish tribunals; and moreover, the crime with which
this woman was charged was not a capital offense under Roman law. Had He said
that the woman should go unpunished or suffer only minor infliction, the crafty
Jews could have charged Him with disrespect for the law of Moses.”[5]
Inexplicably, Jesus, rather than
answering them, stoops down and starts to write in the dust. What He writes is
not recorded, but such an act would serve to make the accusers uneasy, and
perhaps start to question the wisdom of their plot. He then utters the telling
words, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
If the man in question was with them, he would immediately have realized that
Christ was not to be tricked. The accusers were obligated to cast the first
stone. Christ resumed His writing, and they all left—their duplicity and their
individual sins blaringly obvious to themselves and each other. Now comes the
evidence of John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Notably, He does not
forgive the woman her sins, but tells her to “go and sin no more.”
Once again
the JST sheds light “And the woman glorified God from that hour, and believed
on his name” (JST John 8:11). Remember that Elder Dallin Oaks taught us that “whenever possible we will
refrain from judging people and only judge situations.”[6] Question: Going back to the first question, how does the Savior’s
reaction to this woman help us deal with people we know have sinned?
12–59:
The Light of the World
The Savior has already declared that
He is the Living Water. We have studied Him as the Bread of Life. Now He
declares that He is the Light of the World. And that He is Jehovah, Yahweh, the
divine name, “I AM.”
12–20: Speaking
of light, John Taylor said, “He is the light of the sun and the power thereof
by which it was made; he is also the light of the moon and the power by which
it was made; he is the light of the stars and the power by which they are
made.”[7] As
the Pharisees said in accusation, unwittingly speaking the truth, “Thou bearest
record of thyself.” The Savior gives testimony of Himself, His divine Sonship,
and His mission from the Father. In the physical light of the huge Menorahs, He
shows that His light is greater—the light that leads to eternal life and
exaltation. Elder L. Whitney Clayton said, “Every day each of us faces a test.
It is the test of our lifetimes: will we choose to believe in Him and allow the
light of His gospel to grow within us, or will we refuse to believe and insist
on traveling alone in the dark? The Savior provides His gospel as a light to
guide those who choose to believe in and follow Him.”[8] Question: How has His Light changed you
during your life?
21–59: Jesus
then turns on his accusers and exposes their fraud and their sins to
themselves. All the time declaring who He is, Jahweh, “I AM.” One can only
imagine the power in those declarations. Then He deals with a subject that remains
contentious to the Jews, that of bondage. Teaching His believers that the truth
shall make you free elicits a response once again from His accusers:
historically freed from the Babylonians and the Assyrians, although now under
the thumb of Rome, and as children of Abraham, they assert their freedom from
bondage, intimating that they do not need His truth, but Christ shows them that
true bondage is to sin. And finally Christ declares his final I AM when they accuse him of stating he is
greater than Abraham, the greatest of their forebears (in their eyes)”: Before
Abraham was, I AM” (vs 58). This blasphemy (in their eyes) was sufficient for
them to immediately attempt the death penalty, in defiance of Rome it might be
said, but the Savior was able to go “through the midst of them, and so passed
by” (vs. 59).
Bible videos:
The woman taken in adultery
Jesus declares I AM
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