NOTES for Joh 8:12-20

The Pharisees set the observance of legal formalities against Christ's testimony about Himself. According to the letter of the law, what they say is correct: words confirmed by witnesses carried greater force for those present. But even in that case the Pharisees would have found grounds to disqualify the witnesses, since they are not concerned with establishing the truth. On the contrary, they fear that the truth of Jesus' words may be confirmed. But the truth He reveals exceeds human understanding. Christ's words surpass earthly logic; they can either be accepted or rejected, but they cannot be exhausted to the end.

One example of how much the logic of Christ's speech differs from the logic of everyday thinking is given here as well. Reasoning in the usual way, after the words "you judge according to the flesh, but I..." one would expect something like "judge according to the spirit," since the subject is judgment and what it should be. But Christ continues unexpectedly: "judge no one," removing human ideas about justice and allowing us to touch, a little, another understanding of it.

Jesus says that He is the light of the world. This means that those who do not look toward Him are in darkness. The world has only one source of light: God’s Love. Many know from experience that to warm ourselves by a fire we must stay close to it, turning around and exposing different sides of ourselves in turn to the heat of the flame. Sometimes one must come very close when thoroughly chilled, but it is hard to stand there for long... So it is in communion with the Lord: we must follow Him, sustaining this “warming” of ours by His heat, His Love. We cannot “offer” Him only one side of our life, because otherwise everything else will remain in darkness. Like intense heat, His closeness burns away sin, and sometimes this is painful. The light that comes from our Lord is not merely light but the light of life. And as it penetrates every corner of our being, it renews them and restores us to life in this world.

"Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." Bishop Cassian, in his foundational work on the Gospel of John ("By Water and Blood and Spirit") says that this is not the only possible translation. If the punctuation were different (and there are grounds for this), the phrase would mean that the water will flow from Jesus' belly. Each version has its supporters and opponents, but the bishop himself leans toward the second.

But what should we do - people not trained in philology? We can look at this from the standpoint that the history of the Word of God carries within itself not only the original truth about what was spoken by the Lord, but also a particular kind of truth, even if scientifically inaccurate, because the Spirit descends on everyone.

If this is so, perhaps it is worth looking at both translations at the same time. Of course, the second translation draws to itself the story of the Samaritan woman, and in that it is unquestionably true: only the Lord gives living water. And yet a person can become a conduit of this living water, and in this sense becomes a "secondary source" himself, to use the terminology of the theory of diffraction of light. And precisely in the fact that a person can become a source of the Spirit lies the meaning of today's feast - the Day of the Holy Trinity. This is astonishing and inexplicable, but it is so. Therefore the former translation is still important to us, even if it is not entirely correct from a scientific point of view; or rather, it would be more accurate to say that both translations are precious to us.

Jesus’ words concerning the Holy Spirit in the Gospel according to John occasioned an argument among listeners. Jesus constantly dealt with the fact that He was not understood. One of the Pentecostal miracles - The mutual understanding between people, something completely contrary to what happened to the ancient builders of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9). When various people unite in a cordial agreement with «the great deeds of God " - there is a Church. Our world tries to hide these deeds from the eyes of men, but Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and we cannot be in darkness.

Jesus uses an image, which has to provoke immediately to the people listening to Him an association with the predictions on the Messiah, - see for example Isaiah 9:2, 10:1-3. And judging by their ulterior reaction, that‘s what takes place, but still they refuse to believe these predictions are fulfilled here, directly before their eyes. Perhaps, the immodesty of Jesus’ declaration can cause protest to one of us, but instead of protesting per saltum, let us first think to what will come out, if it is really the truth. 

It is written in Psalm 119: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path". We find a similar phrase in the book of Proverbs (6:23). Why Jesus says that without Him, people walk in darkness? Probably, because the light of the word (the law, the commandment) shines only on the way of the law, and those who do not fulfill the commandments, are out of this light. Jesus is in Himself the fulfillment of the law, that's why there's light everywhere He's. He's the Word in flesh, and thus, - the real light. Whereupon, opens to people the way lightened by the Word - the Christlike way, the way that Jesus passed in front of us, and we only have to follow Him, to walk according to His steps and see everything around ourselves and inside ourselves in a real light. 

Jesus and the Pharisees who listen to Him have different ideas of what testimony is. The issue is not that they want human testimony while He speaks of God's testimony. The problem, rather, is that the people listening to Jesus, who are quite sincere religious people, want external testimony where testimony is possible only as something internal. The Pharisees are religious people who observe the Torah, and they demand from Jesus proofs of His messiahship, or at least of the truth of His testimony, in the same way they might demand testimony of the same kind in court on some accusation.

The logic is simple: present us reliable witnesses that You are telling the truth and really have the right to do what You do and say what You say. Testimony is required, certification, but strictly formal and external. And in this case it is impossible: Jesus brought into the world something that cannot be proved by external testimony alone, and this is exactly what those demanding proof from Him cannot understand - or simply do not want to understand.

This is not surprising: after all, we are speaking about religious people. They need proofs of the corresponding kind - proofs that fit within religious frames. But there proofs can only be external. For any religion is an external thing, a kind of tool originally developed for establishing relations with higher powers - and for verifying those relations. But precisely with God there can be no purely external relations, and no verification is possible here. One might just as well try to prove friendship or love: one can bear witness to both, but prove them...

If he wishes, a skeptic or cynic will always object that this is not friendship or love at all, but simply self-interest or attraction to a partner, and nothing can be proved on the external level, only from within, where certainty about the spiritual authenticity of the relationship lives. So it is with God: proof can be found only within, in one's own heart, and in no other way. But this is no longer religion; it is a relationship with God, one that fits into no religious frames and cannot be proved in any way inside those frames.

Speaking with the Pharisees, Jesus again and again tries to explain to them who He is and why He came into the world. But it was not easy for them to understand Him, because they wanted not testimony but proofs, formal proofs of the kind required from witnesses in an ordinary earthly court over ordinary everyday matters. Jesus speaks to them about the life that He can give to everyone who is ready to believe Him (v. 12), and in response He hears: where are Your witnesses? And if there are no witnesses, how can we believe You (v. 13)? In answering those who question Him, Jesus tries to speak with them in their own language. He says: there are two witnesses, I and the Father (vv. 16-17).

But such language does not change the essence of the matter: in order to believe Jesus, one needs not legal proofs but simply the ability to see the situation with spiritual sight. One need only understand who Jesus is, where He came from and where He is going, but this cannot be done by relying only on formal legal procedures, even if they are based on the norms of the Torah (v. 14). You, Jesus says to the Pharisees, evaluate (“judge”) everyone only by external, formal criteria (“according to the flesh”); I, He says of Himself, evaluate no one (v. 15). In this way Jesus lets His interlocutors understand that it is pointless to measure His ministry and testimony by earthly measures and formal criteria, for the Kingdom does not fit within any human framework. And Jesus Himself too, according to His own words, judges no one: as can be seen, He did not come into the world for that. His goal was to free people from the sin from which otherwise they would never be freed, and the question of accepting or not accepting Jesus therefore becomes a question of life and death both for those who accept and for those who reject (vv. 21-24).

And although, as can be seen, the listeners still did not fully understand the Savior (vv. 25-27), among them there were many whom Jesus’ words convinced and who believed Him (v. 30). Apparently a division took place among those present between those who were ready to disregard the opinion of the majority and of religious authorities for the sake of the Kingdom, and those who preferred not to risk it. A division between those who seek the Kingdom and those who are ready to live as before, remaining with their religion.

What makes up the foundations of our life, its most basic realities? Birth and death, water, food, truth, light... Jesus uses all these ideas to describe His mission, as His own names. He wants to tell everyone who hears these words that He is the very foundation of human life. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men... I am the light of the world..." To tell us about the Father, He speaks our language, and what other language could we understand? He speaks about simple, clear details of daily life, as in the parables of the Kingdom, or, in the Gospel of John, about the most important things, without which we cannot imagine either ourselves or the world. "I am the bread... I am the life... You must be born from above... I will give the water of life..."

And all this is testimony to the One about whom no words can fully speak, whom blind human eyes cannot see: the Father, inseparably dwelling in the Son.