Jesus is called
as the light a lot of times in the Gospel of John. John, according to scholars concentrates on
the personality and deity of Jesus. The focus is that we should understand Him
and love him. Others focus on his ministry, kingdom etc. Remember Mathew
records the verse “You are the light of the world” whereas John writes the
following utterance of Jesus: “I am the light of the world”. Both the verses
are true and are said in different contexts.
This meditation
is about how we should look at Jesus to be our light from a few verses from the
gospel of John. This will be helpful for us to understand Jesus more.
1. This is the condemnation
Jesus mentions
that the absence of light and love of darkness itself is the condemnation or
final judgement. One thing we should understand is that “We have not
experienced heaven.” Or precisely, no one has yet. Jesus has always been
promoting the ways to reach the Kingdom of heaven, but did not promote the
Kingdom by mentioning its goodness. Maybe it is beyond our capacity to
understand what heaven is like. Remember, in Revelation 21:17, John mentions
that the angel used earthly measurement. Then there should be different scales
in heaven. All things we use, measure, live and dress are all designed for man
to live in this earth.
If just
darkness is condemnation, imagine then how great and magnificent heaven could
be. No, we cannot imagine with our human
brains. The focus of Jesus’ ministry was totally the Kingdom of Heaven. But,
even if we have preach about heaven, we think that it is practical to live,
save and pursue earthly wealth. This attitude should change. This attitude
shows that we are pursuing darkness instead of light. This light is at the end
of the tunnel showing us the path. Heaven is going to be glorious and will give
us many kinds of happiness we could never imagine with our earthly experiences.
Thus, it is not fair for Indian Christians to long for Switzerland or American
country sides as what we have in heaven is beyond all the beauties we have
heard of. Our focus now should be just to get there by doing his will.
2. Light that shines in the darkness
John 1:5. When
there is light, darkness should be removed. But, here darkness is also present
while the light is shining. John says that darkness did not overcome this light
or Darkness could not put off this light. So, darkness was not equally
powerful, but somewhere near the power of light. This shows the power of the
devil. We take things very easily and think that by “casting away” the devil,
he runs away. The reality is that he is very powerful and controls the whole
world for more than 6000 years now. Just because one is saved and baptized does
not make him clear from the devil’s darts. The devil uses every kind of weapon
to attack. Sometimes sentiments, sometimes fear, sometimes anger, money,
inheritance and everything we are weak at. It is important for us to remember
that we have to continually strive hard to resist the devil.
The
light shines in the darkness. Even though there is darkness all around, the
darkness which is so powerful could not disturb the light. This shows the
purity and uncompromising nature of the light. This light which is the life of
Jesus himself was so pure that no temptation could even disturb him. This power
is given to us also as the Holy Spirit. However powerful the devil is, we have
POWER to overcome him.
3. Light has come into this world. (John 1:9)
Not after
Crucifixion, but when Jesus was born. This Light that God shows is the life
Jesus lived as a model to us. This life is what we are expected to meditate and
compare with ours. This light enlightens everybody unconditionally. We should
imagine that this light is brightly shining in the world. The faith we should
have is that in the whole world being completely dark, the only hope is the
light that shines. This light gives us a path that leads through righteousness
towards glory. Every individual has the opportunity to be enlightened. But to
be enlightened, we need to “come in to the light”.
This first
exposes our actual selves to us and the light. This is important in every
Christian’s life. A will to be cleansed is required. Jesus always has invited
people and had never been a uninvited visitor in people’s lives. How stupid it
is to ignore this love filled, sincere and the only hope giving invite. We
should constantly compare our life events with that of Jesus’ life and
understand how we fail and give way to darkness.
4. Purpose of The Light
Jesus
had the guts to claim that “I am the Light of the world (John 8:12)”. This
light is not to be lit and decorated. This light is to be followed (v12). This
light enlightens us about our sinful nature (John 1:9) and then keeps moving towards
holiness as per this verse. This light visits every portion of our inner selves
and enlightens on what areas are to be cleaned. Remember, Ps 119:105 where the
light is for the path and not for our rest or anything else. The purpose of
light is that we have to keep moving. There is nothing called static
Christianity. Just being saved once or changing the religion and name is never
enough.
Likewise,
when we are the light, we should make others (fellow believers) to progress in
their lives.1 John 1:7 says “But if we walk in the light, as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Unless we have good
fellowship, there is no trace of light in us. The light makes us understand how
equal we all stand before the light remembering our previous dark state. We
should also understand that fellowship is very important for Christian
maturity. This is not a stage or a sign
like the speaking in tongues which may be optional. Fellowship is mandatory.
This is the reason we all need to be part of a local church.
5. A little longer (John 12:35)
This is a
direct warning to us. The light is still shining among us as we still have
opportunities to learn about Jesus. We have the Helper dwelling inside us to
guide us. This comfort will not be for long. There will be a time where there
will be utter darkness and we will have to keep walking to survive. We’ll be
doomed if we do not.
The verse says
that if we do not walk in the light, darkness will “come upon” you. This is
scary. Presence of darkness is different from coming upon which means “over
comes”. That means darkness will control us rather than the light. This warning
has not to be taken lightly. Christians should ensure progress and if not, be
sure of darkness controlling us.
6. Men Loved Darkness (John 3:19)
The world not
just sins with fear, but it is in a state where everybody enjoys sinning. There
are many people who boast about sin. Jesus dislikes this state to a level where
he calls this condemnation. The truth is that these men have not experienced
life outside darkness. So, they claim to
be comfortable here. When the light is shining this love towards darkness keeps
them away from the light. As believers and the “lights of the world” in this
time, we are expected to show light to those who are in darkness.
Before we even
think about salvation... we have to check if we love light or darkness. There
are traces of love towards darkness in all of us. Let us allow the light to
proceed into every area of our minds and life for removing this desire. This
desire is sufficient to make us evil. Jesus gives the opportunity to only who
believe and come to the light. The desire for righteousness should be complete.
We need to convince ourselves first that we are in deep trouble by being in the
dark and we really need to come out of this darkness for salvation. This
process may be painful, troublesome and cause us lose a lot of pleasure we
currently “enjoy”. Let us remember “Blessed are those who thirst after
righteousness”.
7. Put your trust on the light (John 12:36)
This is the
next level. There are many events in life where we do not trust in Him. Mere
walking is not enough. We are required to trust in the light, ignore human
reasoning to become Sons of the Light. This only makes us shine among darkness
so that we bear witness for him. Trusting points at total dependence and moving
fast in the path the light takes without questioning.
