One of the most wonderful
things God did for me in my young life was to give me older brothers. Before
you think ‘how sweet! Her older brothers protected her,’ let me assure you that
this was NOT the case. I grew up in an ‘every person for him/herself’ household.
However, I thought the benefit of having three older brothers, even if they
were mean and ornery, is that I rarely had to be alone … at night … in my house
… by myself.
To me, as a young girl, I
could think of nothing worse than being alone … at night … in my house … by
myself. It wasn’t that we lived in a dangerous neighborhood. It’s just that
with the night comes darkness and shadows and weird sounds and, well, scary
things. And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have always been a bit afraid
of the dark.
Fast forward to 2015 when
my husband is on the road a lot. I’m trying not to be a scaredy-cat but
sometimes old habits die hard. How do I fight off the fear now? Prayer,
scripture, and flashlights in every room!
John 8:12 reminds us that
Jesus is one high-powered flashlight for our lives:
I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)
When Jesus said these
words to people at the temple, He really got their attention. You see, they
were in the midst of a week of celebration … it was their big deal Festival of
Tabernacles, where they were remembering all that God had done for them back in
the Moses years. One thing in particular was that God provided a pillar of fire
at night to show the Israelites where to go. If the pillar moved, they were
supposed to move. If the pillar stayed in one place, then they were to stay
too.
Remember I said they were
having a festival to commemorate what God had done, and part of that festival
was the lighting of these large candlesticks, also known as menorahs. This
meeting with the people was probably in the daytime, maybe even the day after
the menorahs were lit. The people would have remembered the spectacle that the
lighting ceremony was.
A modern day example of
this is the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics … how each host country tries to
outdo the one before it in terms of the spectacle they can make of the lighting
of the Olympic cauldron. The one I
remember most vividly, probably because it was in our country, was the Olympics
held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 … when boxing champion Mohammed Ali, who had
been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease about 10 years prior to the ceremony,
stood high in the stadium, shaking from the ravages of the disease, and doing
his part to honor his country by participating in the lighting ceremony.
I don’t know that the
lighting of the Festival menorah was that staged or magnificent, but something
tells me that it was significant in its own way. So when Jesus spoke the words,
“I am the light of the world,” He
garnered his listeners’ attention. And then He added, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light
of life.”
Those listening closely
may have noticed how similar Jesus’ claim was to the words of Isaiah 9 … we
read parts of this chapter a lot around Christmas but maybe have not connected
it with John 8. In Isaiah 9:2, the prophet writes:
The people walking in darkness have seen a
great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has
dawned.
And then we have the more familiar
words of Isaiah 9:6…
For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jesus was and is the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and, a little bit at a time, He would drop
bombshells like I am the light of the
world on the religious leaders of His day. Because of the accessibility of
the Bible in modern times, we’ve had a lot more time to process His words which
may have also given us more time to ignore them. For the next few weeks, let’s
consider what it looks like in our lives to not
walk in darkness but to have the light of life.
Beginning next week,
we’ll use the word LIGHT to build an acrostic for biblical directives on what
Jesus is calling us to have in our lives to reflect His presence – His light –
to the world around us.
In the meantime? Stay out
of the dark … unless, of course, you have a flashlight handy!
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