Leading With Light or Law

In John 8, Jesus made two great claims:

“I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (8:12)

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.

Jesus’ claimed that He could set people free from the blindness and darkness of guilt and fear.

His claim was met with anger, as the Pharisees responded to the light of truth with law and lineage. ‘We have the law of Moses and we have the lineage of Abraham!’

John 8 ended with Jesus’ amazing claim, “Before Abraham was, I AM”, and the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying, that He was Yahweh, the Lord of Israel, and they picked up stones to kill Him. Because this was not when and how Jesus was to die, Jesus simply slipped into the crowd and out of their trap.

And when Jesus was leaving the temple area He passed by a blind man and saw the opportunity to put on display for all to see just what it looks like when the light of the world meets blindness.

In this story we see a blind man, his parents and the Pharisees, and we will see what it is like when the leading edge of your ministry is light and truth and grace, or when the motive of your ministry and leadership is law, power, fear and shame.

We will see in these three what it looks like when the light of Christ meets up with the blindness and darkness of our own lives and we are faced with a choice to be set free or to be stay blind.