English
His disciples said, ‘Show us the place where you are, because we must seek it.’
He said to them, ‘Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light inside a person of light, and it gives light to the whole world. If he does not give light, he is darkness.’
Interpretation
Saying 24 may come from the earliest form of the book, but was modified in its later stages. Originally, the saying would have contained just the teaching on being a ‘person of light’, where the world ‘lights up’ through good works. When the book received additions which spiritualized practical ethics and the apocalyptic kingdom, this metaphorical light was reinterpreted as a ‘place’. Other passages from these later stages of the book’s development clarify that this ‘place’ is a paradise-like realm associated with the primordial first man.
Parallels
Matthew
5.14 ‘You are the light of the world.’
6.22–23 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’
Luke
11.34–36 ‘Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’
John
13.33, 36 ‘Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” ’ […] Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.’
16.5 ‘But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” ’