Tag Archives: never walk in darkness

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Christian Life, ,

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Jesus said, “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 (NIV).

What a lovely idea, but what does it mean?

“Western” thinking people would immediately conjure up a mental picture of Jesus holding a lamp and walking ahead to light the way for us who follow Him. A Hebrew person would ask the question, “What does a light do?” Light reveals, exposes and allows us to see pictures of our environment and shows us the way to go.

Jesus’ statement is loaded with Old Testament connotations, for example, to say “I am” was to claim the name “Yahweh” which is the covenant name of God! To invite people to follow Him would refer to the Israelites’ experience in the wilderness when they were led by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. They were going to take possession of their inheritance – the Promised Land of Canaan, with all the ramifications of that promise made to their ancestor, Abraham.

Jesus is therefore extending an invitation to anyone who would follow Him, since he is God, and has the authority and power to take us to our promised inheritance, to become His disciples, and to imitate Him because He is the way to the kingdom of God and eternal life.

The Hebrew concepts of “light” and “darkness” help us understand how to follow Him. The Hebrews spoke of “the eye of light” (the yetzer tov) and “the evil eye” or “the eye of darkness” (the yetzer harah); for example, Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good (yetzer tov) your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, (yetzer harah), your whole body will be full of darkness…” Matthew 22,23a (NIV).

“Light”, here, means the ability to look beyond yourself to see the needs of others, to be generous and do something for them to make their lives better. “Darkness”, by contrast, is the inability to see beyond yourself; it is the selfish and greedy eye that is only concerned with your own needs and wants. A person with the yetzer harah had no desire or ability to share his resources with anyone else.

Jesus told a story about a person with a yetzer harah (Luke 12:13-21). A rich man’s farm produced an abundant crop. Instead of using his abundance to share with needy people, he decided to store it all up for himself. Then he could take life easy and would not need to work so hard. Jesus called him a fool, not because he was rich but because he was not rich towards God.

Since Jesus is the most loving, caring, and generous person who ever lives, He promises that, if we follow Him, we will never be greedy or selfish. Instead, we will experience the joy of really living by caring for others.

WATER AND LIGHT

Bible Study, ,

WATER AND 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.'” John 8:12 (NIV).

Although the interlude which records Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery doesn’t seem to fit, it apparently happened in the temple while He was teaching the people. The water ceremony which we spoke about in a previous post, was part of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The lighting of the candelabras took place on the second day of the feast.

“According to the Mishnah (part of the oral tradition of the rabbis), gigantic candelabras stood within the court of the women. Each of the four golden candelabras is said to have been 50 cubits high. A cubit is somewhere between 18 and 22 inches, so we’re talking about candelabras that were about 75 feet tall! Each candelabrum had four branches, and at the top of every branch there was a large bowl. Four young men bearing ten-gallon pitchers of oil would climb ladders to fill the four golden bowls on each candelabrum. And then the oil in those bowls was ignited.

“Picture sixteen beautiful blazes leaping toward the sky from these golden lamps. Remember that the Temple was on a hill above the rest of the city, so the glorious glow was a sight for the entire city to see. In addition to the light, Levitical musicians played their harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets to make joyful music to the Lord. What a glorious celebration! The light was to remind the people of how God’s Shekinah glory had once filled His Temple. But in the person of Jesus, God’s glory was once again present in that Temple. And He used that celebration to announce that very fact. He was teaching in the court of women just after the Feast, perhaps standing right next to those magnificent candelabras when He declared to all who were gathered there,”

(http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/jewishroots/Feast_of_Tabernacles_Jews_For_Jesus_David_Brickner.aspx?option=print)

Although many of the Jewish leaders were scathing about Jesus’ apparent origin in Galilee (because they failed to realize that He was born in Bethlehem as the Scripture had predicted), God had promised that a great light would shine out of Galilee (Isaiah 9:1,2).

The people were unwittingly using ceremonies and symbols which they did not understand while the fulfilment of their symbolic expectation was right there among them! They were celebrating their Messianic hope with physical light while Jesus was offering them a new life of freedom from the demands of selfishness and sin (darkness) so that they could live the lives He intended for them, living lovingly and generously towards others (light).

“‘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 (NIV).

There was pain in the heart of Jesus over the spiritual leaders of the nation who refused to recognize and come to Him as the light. He was inviting the people to set aside all their efforts to please God by following rules and rituals. God had set out His teaching (Torah) in His law but they had found it impossible to fulfil all His requirements. The leaders laid a heavy burden on the people through their yoke of legalism.

Jesus offered them a better way. ‘Follow me,’ He said, ‘and you will never walk in darkness.’ He told them that He had not come to do away with the law but to show them how to fulfil it. In His offer of “living water”, there was a promise that the Holy Spirit would be in them, like the water they drank every day to quench their thirst, to give them life and enable them the follow Him.

If they followed His way of life, living for others instead of for themselves, their lives would be filled with His light, the joy and peace of God that would bring them satisfaction and fulfilment instead of dissatisfaction and discontent.

He still invites us to follow Him!

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.