I am from above, I am not of this world
Who is Jesus? part 89 – John 8:12-26
I like structure. Being autistic, I have no filter on my senses; all the smells in the environment, all the colours, all the sounds, all at once. Life can be overwhelming, causing meltdowns which affect me for days. Having a structure reduces the stress by reducing the number of decisions I have to make.
Needing structure spills over into all areas of my life. Lectio Divina gives structure to meditating on scripture, and the Lord’s prayer provides a template for prayer. Bible study, well, I just read. But I can see structure in unusual places; it’s a gift. When I see a common structure in scripture, it starts popping up all over. With John’s Gospel, it becomes hard to see anything that doesn’t fit into a poetic structure, mostly chiasmus, something I discovered when studying the Psalms.
A:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
B: 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
C: 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
D: 21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
X: 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
D’: 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
C’: 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.
B’: 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true,
A’: and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
John 8:12-26 ESVUK with paragraphs added by me, together with Letters to reveal the chiastic structure of the passage.
Chiasmus, meaning crossing over, is a mirror-image form used in nearly all Psalms and often in the New Testament. It is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Where there is a central section, here marked X, it is often the main theme.
This is the fourth day on the Light of the World passage. I have got as far as the C: section. Only now have I included verses 21 – 26 and revealed the structure. The repeated words or phrases that reveal the structure are:
A and A’: The world.
B and B’: Truth and Judgement.
C and C’: This contrasts Jesus saying, “You know neither me nor my Father,” with the Pharisees asking, “Who are you?”
If you’re thinking. “There’s nine sections here. How long before he moves on,” do not worry, that little list above concludes what I want to say about those parts of the passage, which leaves us with the central part.
The warning to the Jews, which is more probably Judeans, the people living in the Jerusalem area, is a warning that they will die in their sins. This comes in both the D and D’ parts. Up until now, this discussion, in John 8:12-20, has been with the Pharisee in the temple treasury, and the discussion has been a legal matter. Jesus has debated of God’s Laws with the experts in God’s laws. Now in verses 21 onwards, Jesus widens the subject, addressing the rest of the people in the temple treasury.
Choose Life
Imagine the scene from the beginning. Jesus has his head up towards the people. “I am the light of the world,” he starts, but he is soon interrupted by the Pharisees. Jesus then addresses them on their legal issue. Now Jesus looks up to the people again. What he is saying follows on from, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus is asking them to choose life, which means following him. The warning about death belongs here. “you will die in your sin.”
Harsh, yes. But Jesus is offering a choice of life or death. Choose between having the life of life or dying in your sins. Jesus is warning them, but is also is offering forgiveness, not condemnation.
What upset the religious leaders was that Jesus used the words “I am,” using the name of God, which the Pharisees has interrupted because of this. What should Jesus do? Reword things in order to be tactful and not make them more upset? He does nothing of the sort. Instead the uses the I am phrase three more times. This would normally be dangerous, but Jesus was in control. The Pharisees wanted to arrest him, but Jesus’ time had not come. When his time comes, the arrest will happen, but even that will be on Jesus’ terms. First, he has teaching to do.
He says, “You are from below, I am from above.” I AM from above.
He says, “You are of this world; I am not of this world.” I AM not of this world.
He says, “Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” I AM he.
I’m leaving the last of these for now, Jesus repeats it in verse 28 and I’ll deal with it there.
Look at where these statements I am from above and I am not of this world come in chiasmus. Right in the centre, the part I marked X. The most important place. The first and last parts are important too, and they, like this central part mention the world too.
The Jews believed in two kingdoms, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of the world. Jesus is claiming to be God, come from the kingdom of heaven to walk on earth. When he returns the kingdom of heaven will come down to earth and the two will merge. Jesus is God in human form. He comes to teach us about living in the Kingdom of heaven, he shows us what living by heaven’s standards looks like, and he comes to justify us, make us free from the law’s punishment; redeem us, pay the price that buys us back; and save us, which has exactly the same meaning as when the lifeguard saves us from the faulty jet ski.
The God of heaven is now the God of the world. He is here giving us light and providing a choice between life and death.
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