John 8:12-20
New Catholic Bible
The Light Triumphs over Darkness
12 The Light of the World.[a] Jesus addressed them once again, saying,
“I am[b] the light of the world.
The one who follows me
will never walk in darkness.
Rather, he will have the light of life.”
13 On hearing this, the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf. Your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus replied,
“Even though I testify on my own behalf,
my testimony is true,
because I know where I have come from
and where I am going,
whereas you do not know
where I have come from
or where I am going.
15 You judge by the flesh,
whereas I do not judge anyone.
16 Yet even if I do judge,
my judgment is true
because it is not I alone who judge,
but it is I and the Father who sent me.
17 “In your Law it is written
that the testimony of two witnesses is true.
18 I testify on my own behalf,
and the Father who sent me
also testifies on my behalf.”
19 They continued to question him, saying, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered,
“You know neither me nor my Father.
If you knew me,
you would know my Father also.”
20 He spoke these words while he was teaching at the treasury of the temple.[c] However, no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- John 8:12 Here is another symbol, which has the feast of Lights for its setting and enables us to understand more fully the part Jesus intends to play in the life of human beings: he is light. We may think of the luminous cloud during the journey in the wilderness (see Ex 13:21; Wis 18:3), the form in which God was leading his people.
- John 8:12 I am: see notes on Jn 6:20 and 6:35.
- John 8:20 The treasury of the temple: not the place where the offerings were stored, since this was closed to the public, but the adjacent room where the boxes for the offerings stood (see Mk 12:41; Lk 21:1).
