John 12:35-36

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

I can't say that I have much to teach on this right now, only some observations; the biggest one being that Jesus confirms here, near the end of his time on earth, that he is the light spoken of in the beginning of this book.  He lets us know that walking in his light will keep us from being overwhelmed by darkness.  He goes on to say that believing in the light allows us to become sons (children for those who prefer gender neutral) of light.

With Jesus being as multi-faceted as God the Father, we find many descriptions of him in the Bible.  Son of God is probably the most recognizable followed by the Word of God and Lamb of God.  Each of these helps us to understand an aspect of who and what Jesus is.  Now we see him as the Light of God.

Jesus reveals God to the world.  He pushes back the darkness of this world with his Father's goodness.  The path he lights for us is an alternative to what we see in the world around us; in fact, Jesus says that we don't even know where we are going in the darkness.  We are lost; each of us merely stumbling in the dark without a light to show the way.  As we stumble we will grasp onto anything that seems to give guidance or purpose to our lives without realizing that anything in this world we grab is a temporary thing.  Nothing in this world lasts forever, and when that thing that we follow goes away or shows itself to be lacking in substance we just wander aimlessly until we find something else to grab onto.

But Jesus offers us a light to guide our way through this world.  He is the light of the one who is always and always is.  God is permanent.  God is forever.

Life seems very dark for many right now.  Fear, anger, and isolation are a bad combination; and these are common feelings around the world today.  But they, like all worldly things, are temporary and fleeting while God is forever and solid.  Grasping onto him will give us the strength to come through the current situation stronger than how we entered it.  His light will show us a way to be less fearful and frustrated each day and help us to know that isolation from other humans does not make us alone.  It allows us to find out what is truly important to us.

Be strong in the Lord.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

- John 1:1-5

Although John was a disciple of Jesus who lived and traveled with the Christ during his earthly ministry, the book that carries John's name was written some time after the resurrection of Jesus; it was a look back with all of the wisdom that comes from hindsight.  With that purpose in mind John begins by explaining that the Word of God was at the same time God himself and with God.  Just as the words that I speak are a part of me as well as with me.  Of course, this isn't a perfect example because no human words can perfectly explain the divine, but it helps the reader get an idea of this relationship between God and the Word.

In the very next verse John fills out this idea a bit more by personifying the Word.  "He was in the beginning with God".  God's Word was a person.  A person who was simultaneously God and with God; God himself yet somehow separate from him.  With this verse we can begin to see the multi-faceted nature of God, an unfolding of the Trinity; God exists at the same time as "one" and "more than one".  And the Word of God was right there with God from the beginning of everything.  This Word is Jesus.

In verse 3 John states that everything came into being through the Word.  When nothing existed, God spoke and existence happened (Genesis 1).  The world (universe, cosmos) came to be through the Word of God.  As a short side note, I think we should notice that if a person creates something the created item is inherently the property of that person.  If I build a table, the table is mine to do with as I please until I choose to give it to someone else.  Since God created everything, everything is his as well as the Word's.

Next, we read that life comes from the Word (Jesus) and that this life provides light to humanity.  Light can be a way to see into a dark place as well as a beacon to guide one to a certain point.  Jesus is both of these.  He is a light to make our paths through this dark world more clear; and he is a beacon drawing us towards himself and towards God the Father.

Finally, this light which comes from the life Jesus provides shines into the darkness of the world; because what is darkness if not the absence of light?  Although the rest of this passage is written in the past tense, John ends with the present tense, "the darkness has not overcome it".  As mentioned earlier, John wrote all of this as a look back to the life of Jesus making the whole of his writing an account of past events, yet he adds, "has not".  To the moment that John wrote these words, and even until this moment today, the death of Jesus was unable to extinguish his light.  Why?  Because death, the ultimate darkness in this world, had no lasting effect on Jesus.  He would step out of his grave by his own power to show his dominion over the world and that his life was, and is, more powerful than death.

That life is our light.

Easter Interrupted

This Easter will be difficult for many because of the lack of traditional Easter morning services. Some will feel that it just isn't Easter without the normal routine, but what did Jesus say about worship?

Samaritan Woman: "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

-John 4:20-24

According to the one we worship on Easter Sunday (or any Sunday for that matter) location is irrelevant. We can worship at any place at any time. He also taught us that man-made traditions aren't very important. What is important is who, how, and why we worship. Take time this Easter and throughout our time of distancing to find new ways to appreciate God and what he is doing for us. Worship him in spirit and truth and see if something good doesn't come from all of this.

Be blessed and be safe.

John 6:39-40

"You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life."

Sometimes, as we seek an answer to our questions or a solution to a problem, we enter the search with preconceived ideas about what that answer will look like.  These ideas can originate from a number of sources.  Our education, life experiences, and the opinions of others will often shape what we believe to be true so much that new evidence is overlooked simply because it does not fit how we see the world.  This is what happened to many of the Jews that Jesus came in contact with during his ministry on Earth.

The common belief among the Jewish people was that the Messiah would be a political/military leader to deliver his people through might and strength.  When Jesus showed up preaching love and forgiveness he in no way fit the mold of what was expected; therefore, he could not be Messiah.

To make the situation even more difficult was a common view that it was the holy texts themselves filled with rules and regulations that would lead to eternal life.  When Jesus made it clear that life had more to do with a relationship based on faith than following the rules this turned the theology of many upside down.  He would say in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."   What Jesus was beginning to teach the people at that moment was the idea that the rules were important, but not for the reason that had been taught.  The Law and the Prophets were not meant to provide salvation; they were meant to point to the one who would provide it.  Those who could hear this and allow their thinking to change would be able to see the truth in what Jesus taught, while those who held tightly to their preconceived notions would be unable to hear anything that didn't fit their expectations.

This same thing happens today.  Our view of the world can get in the way of seeing how it truly is.  If a person is taught that a certain group of people is "bad" or "evil" then there will be an invisible wall up when that person first meets someone from that group.  All of the previous ideas will get in the way of any communication.  Likewise, when we believe that science holds all of the answers to reality we will disregard anything that contradicts what we believe that science teaches us.  This is a major stumbling block to faith.  We can scour the universities and libraries searching for the ultimate truth without ever realizing that all the research in the world only points to the truth.  It doesn't contain the truth.  God the Father is the truth, and God, through the Bible, points us to Jesus.

Humanity never really changes.  We, like the Jews of Jesus' time, search our new, modern version of the scriptures looking for truth while the truth is standing right in front of us for all to see.