July 20, 2013

 John 1:4-5 — In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

 New believers are often advised to start reading the Bible by reading John’s Gospel. Myself, I’m not so sure. Although John was the apostle of love, perhaps the more direct narrative of Mark might be a clearer entry point. Some of John’s glorious thoughts need a lot of thought! – Consider these verses – what does “light” really mean? At one level, it’s pretty simple I suppose – the light is what helps you see. That’s the sense in Charles H. Gabriel’s missions hymn —

There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless wave, “Send the light! Send the light!”
There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save, Send the light! Send the light!
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light; Let it shine from shore to shore!
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light; Let it shine forevermore!

Light is not simple though … it is, for instance, self-revealing. It does not only show what is, but it declares itself. A very small light will illuminate a very great darkness – and no amount of darkness can extinguish the light (the darkness comprehended it not). But the light is Jesus too … in one of His great “I AM” declarations He Says “I am The Light Of The World”.(Did you know Jesus uses “I am” 24 times in the Gospel according to John – those two little words could delay us a while on our journey while we stopped to think about them!). Let’s just take a few of the thoughts that might flow from that:

• First, Jesus is that light that instills the light of reason and belief into men – as Mathew Henry beautifully says, “The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord, and it was the eternal Word that lighted this candle.”
• Second, Jesus is the creative force that disperses the darkness of chaos in the universe. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”. Now John makes it clear that Jesus was that creative agent, that light.
• Third, Jesus is the light that leads believers … as the pillar of fire guided the Israelites through the desert.

There’s another thing about light. It can be contagious. Jesus also said, “YOU are the light of the world” – a thought captured by Chris Rice in his song “Go light The World” –

There is a candle in every soul, Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings a fire, Ignites a candle and makes His home
So carry your candle, run to the darkness, Seek out the helpless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it, Take your candle, and go light your world

Light. A simple little word. Simple in the Greek too – phos (???).Such a wealth of meaning!