7th May 2024
Let there be light
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness “night.”…Genesis 1:3-5 (NLT)
When I awoke in the night all I could see was darkness; nothing was recognizable. Wanting to know what time it was, I groped for my phone. With the little light from the screen, everything was now recognisable; not clear in focus, but I knew what things were. These things did not appear out of nowhere, they were there the whole time; I just could not see them. The darkness is very disorienting. I was reminded of how Jesus came as the light to the world (John 8:12). I often take this for granted. Jesus is more than a little light in the darkness, he is light himself. According to Genesis 1, he created the light and separated it from the darkness.
Light was now in the world, but the minds of mankind were still in the darkness. ‘He came into the very world he created, but the world did not recognize him.’ (John 1:10). We often focus on the suffering of Jesus on the cross for us, but his suffering was manifested in many ways. His own creation, his own children did not recognise or accept him. That must have been painful as well to be rejected and abandoned by those he loved. We can only experience this on a small scale compared to Jesus.
With a little light, I was able to recognise the things in my room, but I still did not see them clearly. I needed more light. The world did not recognise its creator, and so Jesus came into the world to bring his light to mankind. Though Jesus is the light of the world, our minds were still in the darkness because of the blindness of the fall of mankind. Jesus is removing this blindness as he did for the blind man he physically healed while here on earth: “But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” [Siloam means “sent”]. So the man went and washed and came back seeing! (John 9:5-7).
Jesus brings clarity to the world; Jesus heals us and makes us whole. We like to say that Jesus came into the world, yet his presence was in the world the whole time; we just did not recognise him because of our blindness. He came into the world as a man, as one of us, but his hands still held the world together; his life force is where we draw our life from. ‘Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”’ (John 8:12).
Just like Jesus, we will be rejected by some and abandoned. The disciples abandoned Jesus at his death, but when he rose to life again, they finally recognised who Jesus fully was. We are sent out to be a light to this dark world as we allow the light of Jesus to shine in us and we point the way to him. Just as the small light from my phone made a difference, so our small light can make a difference in someone else’s life. We are called to shine and point the way to Jesus. Jesus will open their eyes to see, just as Jesus’ breaking of the bread in Emmaus opened the eyes of his disciples to see and recognise their Lord (Luke 24:13-35).
Prayer
Thank you, God, for opening our eyes to see you. Thank you for bringing your light of truth into our dark and broken world. I look forward to seeing you more clearly each day. What a wonderful journey this is with you. I praise your glorious name! In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Anne Gillam
About the writer:
Anne Gillam is a retired Pastor in Grace Communion International, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.
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