In today’s Gospel Jesus reveals himself as the light of the world: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In John’s Gospel Jesus reveals himself as the basic elements that we need for life: living water, bread of life, resurrection and life. All of these images are simple and basic, but also absolutely necessary to survive and live. At the Last Supper Jesus declares: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6). Jesus is truth and the way to life. Jesus is the way to the one true God. Jesus is the way to a full and meaningful life and to a life after death, a life with God. Truth then is not some abstract concept but Jesus, his words and his deeds.
In John’s Gospel Jesus repeats the same message over and over again but uses different images such as water, bread, shepherd, and light to find some way to reach us and to find some image that is meaningful to us. Ultimately what Jesus is showing us is the one true God. Perhaps we are like Philip and it takes us a while to “get it.”
Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8-9).
Each time we “see” or encounter Jesus in a Gospel story we see God. Each time we hear Jesus’ words in the Gospel we hear the very voice of God. We need to always filter all our other images of God through Jesus. We have inherited many different pictures or images of God over the years. Some of these images come from the Old Testament, some from the visions of saints, some from our parents and teachers and some from movies and books. The definitive image or picture of God is the one Jesus shows us. All these other images must be filtered and even critique through the image that Jesus shows us. Jesus shows us the one true God. Let us walk in this light of Jesus, the light of the world.