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Speak Up Jesus...

          When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
        The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
          Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
          Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
         “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.  (John 8:12-20)

          C. S. Lewis once wrote that he believed in Christ as he believed in the sun, not because he could see the sun, but because by the sun, he could see all else. I believe he got the idea from this passage or others like it. Jesus claimed to be the light of the world. Because of Him, by Him, through Him…everything is made clear.
         I am smiling again. I know that the book of John isn’t in exactly chronological order, and that this event likely did not take place immediately after the scene with the woman caught in adultery, but it illustrates the desperation of the Pharisees. First, they take a woman caught in adultery to Him so that He will be tricked into saying something they can use to accuse him. But when He makes a statement which can be used to accuse Him, they tell him to shut up, that His testimony is not valid. Speak up, Jesus…shut up, Jesus.
         I have to wonder, as well, about their reaction when He said that His other witness is the Father, who sent Him. They know who He meant, but by now they had to have gotten the report. Were they waiting for this chance? “Oh, yeah, Jesus, we’ve been meaning to talk about that. Where’s your father?” Behind their hands, were they snickering about this poor, demented, bastard child, who can’t cope with being a shame to His family, so He makes up some nonsense about being God’s Son? Yep, they knew all about Him now. They’d gotten the reports back.
         Jesus doesn’t seem to blink. If they knew Him half as well as they thought they did, they’d know His Father. Elsewhere, He says that if they knew His Father, they’d know Him. There’s a partnership. You can’t know one without recognizing the other.

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