Be Still And Know

John 8:12    Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Jesus spoke these words during the festival of tabernacles, which was a seven-day holiday at the end of the harvest. It was one of three pilgrimage festivals, so Jerusalem would have been heaving with people. On the first evening of the festival there was a ceremony called ‘the illumination of the temple’ which took place in the court of the women. Four great candelabra were placed in the centre of the court and, when darkness came, they were lit. It is said that the light from them was so great that every courtyard in the city was illuminated by their brilliance. It must have been quite a sight! This was a powerful backdrop to Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world. In the Old Testament, time and again God is identified as being light; there is no doubt that in this bold statement Jesus was claiming to be the Son