“The Light of the World” - John 8:12 I still recall an experience growing up when my family was on vacation and stopped at a cave near Cumberland Gap, near where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee come together. A guide led us with a small group of tourists down into a cavern that ran deep inside the mountain. Then he told us we were going to now experience absolute darkness. He then hit a switch and the lights went out. There was nothing, it was so black you literally could not see your hand in front of your face. I tried it. Nothing but black. Then he struck a match. And the light from that match might as well have been a flare it seemed so bright. The light flickered off the walls of the cavern all around us! Have you ever been in absolute darkness? When I think about light and darkness, t here was another vacation about 40 years ago that comes to mind… Mary Ann and I decided to take a vacation up to the Canadian ...
“A Story of Grace” (Or, “Mercy Me!”) John 7:53-8:11 Introduction : This familiar passage may be one of the best known and most loved scenes in the Gospel of John. It is also one of the most controversial passages in the NT. As it stands, it reminds us of God’s love shown in sending his Son to be our Savior: “ God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners , Christ died for us ” (Rom 5:8). If you have an NIV Bible, you’ll see a note that this passage does not occur in the earliest manuscripts of John. The ESV also puts it in brackets, noting also that it is not present in the earliest manuscripts. Other modern translations say something similar. This is in fact one of the most contested paragraphs in the New Testament . The problem? None of the manuscripts of John before the 5 th century AD include it, and it’s not cited or commented on by the earliest church fathers. They simply jump from 7:52 to 8:12. In a few later manuscripts this story actually ap...