Witness to Jesus

Jesus’ claim, “I am the Light of the world” must be wisely assessed. Not all are persuaded that Jesus brings light from heaven into the world: indeed, John records that those who heard Jesus’ claim were not at all convinced: “You are bearing witness about yourself”, they protested, “Your witness is not true”. 

Now that’s a valid point; according to Jewish law it takes two to establish a lawful testimony, and Jesus goes on to admit that – “In your Law [given by God to Moses who wrote it down] it is written that the testimony of two people is true”. But then Jesus adds something that is more than remarkable: “I am one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” What did he mean by that?

In saying that his Father bore witness to him, he was referring to two staggering events in his life. One was at the inauguration of his public ministry when he was baptised by John the Baptist and “the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3.22, Mark 1.10 and Matthew 3.16-17). The fact that three of the Gospels record this amazing event of God speaking out loud to authenticate his Son is highly significant. But that is not all. Jesus had in mind also the time he was transfigured in the presence of three disciples on a mountain top when “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” A cloud overshadowed them and “a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him’” (Matthew 17.2-5, Mark 9.2-7, Luke 9.28-36). So three Gospel writers record that God had spoken out twice from heaven, bearing miraculous divine witness to his Son.

It’s like God was saying to the world: “I have so many things I really want to tell you – and that you need to know; but rather than shouting them all out from heaven, I have sent my Son. Listen to him, for he will tell you all I want to tell you; I put my words in his mouth and he faithfully relays it to you.” In any case, God did say: “Listen to him”. God’s voice was heard speaking out loud, endorsing Jesus as his Son, his messenger to bring us truth that otherwise we could never grasp. We must sit up and take notice! The order “listen to Jesus” comes as a divine command! Are you obeying it? It is in doing so that we shall find the answers we need and the fullness of life we all want.

Clive Every-Clayton