"I am the Light of the world." John 8:12
I
am sitting in the dark as I type this. Why
did Jesus compare himself to “light”? I
am a sighted person and so it is hard for me to imagine not having light as a
constant function in my life. And,
living in the 21st century – don’t you find that you can’t even get
away from light when you want to? With
my lights off, at 10 o’clock at night, I can still see everything in my house
because of LEDs on the TV, computer, stove, clock, etc.
Sitting
in the dark does make me think, though.
I can’t see anything very well. I
can’t see colors. If I forget where I
had put something, as I walk around I’ll get some bumps and bruises. I will restrict myself to this known
landscape of my house. I’ll be more
afraid. I’ll be more vulnerable. If something or someone were about to attack
me, I wouldn’t know it.
Little
children often fear the dark. There
might be monsters in the unknown. But
grown-ups can fear it, too. There are
some scary movies being made recently about whole-scale blackouts – about whole
cities being off the grid. Why do we
fear darkness?
If
physical darkness is scary, how much more terrifying is spiritual darkness. And what is spiritual darkness. It is having absolutely no idea of what is
going on in the spiritual world. Some of
you may say, “What spiritual world?” because you don’t believe there is
one. May I propose to you that THAT is
spiritual darkness. There is
a spiritual world, which contains both good and evil, and it doesn’t cease to
exist when someone doesn’t see it. Not
being able to see is called blindness.
So,
when Jesus said “I am the light,” he was telling us that he cures our spiritual
blindness. He gives us the ability
to see what we otherwise are unaware of.
If we can SEE into the spiritual realm, we aren’t vulnerable, afraid,
and tripping all over everything. If
there is an enemy, we can fight. Being
spiritually in the light is very powerful.
Here
are just some of the quotes from Jesus telling us he is our LIGHT:
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said: I am the light
of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the
light of life … While I am in the world, I am the light of the
world … Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime
will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light … It is when a
person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light … You
are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you
have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark
does not know where they are going …Believe in the light while you have
the light, so that you may become children of light ... I have
come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should
stay in darkness.
[John 8:12, 9:5, 11:9-10,
12:35-36, 12:46]
Just
one parting thought: It is wise to STAY
CLOSE to the LIGHT --
if you want to see where you’re going!
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