If you don’t follow Jesus, of course you misunderstand him.

John 8.21-29. As you know, those who imagine Jesus is only a great moral teacher, and figure “I’m the world’s light” means that and no more, tend to ignore the radical statements Jesus made about who he is, what he can do, and who sent him and why. They refuse to recognize him for who he is. When he made roundabout statements about it, they deliberately chose to misinterpret him; when he made blunt statements about it, they wanted to kill him. John 8 contains both such things. So let’s get to those things. Back to temple, Jn 8.20 where Jesus was teaching yet another lesson to skeptical people. John 8.21-29 KWL 21 So Jesus told them again: “I’m going away. You’ll seek me, and you’ll be destroyed by your sins: You can’t go where I go.” 22 So the Judeans said, “He won’t kill himself, will he? ” —because Jesus said, “You can’t go where I go.” 23 Jesus told them, “You’re from below. I’m from above. You’re from this world. I’m not from this world. 24 So I told