Jesus the light of life, the Light of the world
This service of Darkness into Light is just fantastic - full of symbolism and meaning and especially applicable on this 1st Sunday of Advent as we approach Christmas when we celebrate the birth of the light of the world.
The service begins in darkness with the Advent Responsory, in which Christ's coming is announced. The Blessing of Light follows, and, as the Service unfolds, we are all transformed from darkness into light.
Jesus said, ‘I AM the light of the world’
John’s gospel highlights this saying bringing together a vast number of sayings from the OT especially the book of psalms:
• The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom then shall I fear – ps 27:1
• Thy Word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path – ps119:105 – Jesus the Word made flesh.
• The Darkness is no darkness with Thee, but the night is as clear as the day: the Darkness and Light are both alike - ps 139:11
Jesus said: "He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
The light of life means two things - the light which issues from the source of life and the light which gives life.
It means both - Jesus is the very light of God come among us and Jesus is the light which gives us life.
Just as the flower can never blossom when it never sees the sunlight, so our lives can never flower with the grace and beauty they ought to have until they are irradiated with the light of the presence of Christ.
Jesus is the BE ALL and END ALL – the FIRST and the LAST; the BEGINNING and the END, the ALPHA and the OMEGA.
Jesus is the Light of the world and in Him there is no darkness at all.
As the 3rd Collect for Evensong states: Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and by Thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night….
Light is an integral part of our lives, it maintains life and radiates energy into our bodies and souls… without Light we wouldn’t exist.
The same is true of Jesus, the light of the world – He is an integral part of our lives, He maintains life – gives life its true meaning, He gives us HOPE the most valuable thing in our lives.
Without hope there is no purpose, no focus, no meaning to our lives.
Jesus is the Light of the world and in Him there is no darkness at all!
‘I AM the light of the world’ – this saying of Jesus has TWO parts – we have already considered the 2nd half ‘the light of the world’ but the 1st part is even more significant – ‘I AM’
God’s NAME is so holy that the Jews just couldn’t even utter it – JEHOVAH or YAHWEH so over time it was abbreviated to I AM and then it was something that just couldn’t be uttered.
John’s gospel illustrates this is the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested – Who are you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth and their reaction is strange to say the least when Jesus said I AM HE.
They fell to the ground because Jesus uttered the most holy NAME of GOD – I AM.
Jesus overcame this problem for us by teaching us how to pray by calling God our FATHER… Our Father.. the Lord’s prayer.
‘I AM the light of the world’….. God is the Light of the World and what better way to express this very fact than by our OT reading from the book of Genesis chapter 1 -
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
With darkness there is absolutely NOTHING but when light was created even God thought it was GOOD.
Light was God’s creation on the 1st Day – it was the most important part of Life and from it everything else evolved.
Without light, life would end, wither and decay, without God and Christ’s saving death, life would end – there would be no purpose, no meaning and no reason – we would wither and decay.
We are fortunate in this country but where there is war, terrorism, violence and destruction human life seems to have lost its value to some – the light of life has been extinguished.
But God’s light banishes the deeds of darkness, the Light can never be extinguished – there is always hope and reassurance that Light will overcome evil.
When we attend the Holy Eucharist in our confession we pray that we shall be ‘lead in His way to walk as children of light’.
and then in the very last service of the day, in the Order for Night Prayer:
Compline, we pray that God will ‘Look down’ and keep us in His safe keeping… Look down, O Lord, from thy heavenly throne, illuminate the darkness of this night with thy celestial brightness, and from the sons of light banish the deeds of darkness;
Jesus is the Light of the world and in Him there is no darkness at all –
The LORD is my shepherd, can I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Jesus said, ‘I AM the light of the world’ - what better gift can we have this coming Christmas than that of Jesus illuminating our way and being with us as we walk through life’s darkest valley?
