Jesus: The Light
John 1:1-9
Christmas has come and gone. We have celebrated the birth of the Christ. Gifts have been exchanged. The Family has been visited. Gifts have been changed at the store. Now we face the New Year. But before we begin to party … I have a question to ask you?
Who was Jesus?
A new and popular song is: "Mary did you know?" by Mark Lowry.
Some 0f the lines go like this:
Mary did you know your son would walk on water?
Mary did you know that he would save our sons and Daughters?
Mary did you know that when you kissed the face of your child, that
You kissed the great "I am".
A beautiful song filled with emotion and hope. But Mark I hate to tell you that Mary did not kiss the face of "creator God". Jesus was not God.!
God was his father! It was God to whom Jesus prayed as you and I pray. It was Jesus who stated that "only his Father in heaven was perfect. It was to God that Jesus uttered his last words …My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?
Who then was Jesus? The Gospels allows that he was "the long expected Messiah", The Christ. The son of God.
In the prologue to John's gospel ... John tells us who Jesus was. He was a human being who understood the LOGOS ...Wisdom of God. In the English translation of LOGOS it equated with the abstract concept of a word. A word embodies it own meaning. It does not depend upon the individual who speaks it to give it meaning and identity. God spoke a word at creation and something was created out of nothing. With the power of the Word God created all that exists. Jesus embodied that same Wisdom of the original Word God spoke. His mind was transparent to the mind of God. He knew understood God's thoughts. He told them to us in his teachings of the sermon on the mount. He lived them out in his daily relationships. He was a living example of the power of God's Word. "The word walked among us full of Grace and glory".
John said that Jesus' life was like a light that shined into darkness, and the darkness could not put it out.
I want it perfectly clear that the light is not symbolic of Jesus. Jesus was and is the light of God who overcomes evil with good.
Light is symbolic for good. Darkness is symbolic of evil. Anything that dispels negative life is the Christ. Because his goodness was and is in the matrix of creation itself.
Dr. Tom Langford, former Dean of Duke Divinity School, used to lecture on this prologue quite often. Tom explains the Christ as light event this way.
Says Tom, "Imagine you were in a matinee showing of a movie. Inside the theater everything is dark. The movie is over about 4:00 in the afternoon. You leave the darkness of the movie and walk into the light. The light is overwhelming. It is blinding. It is powerful."
The message of Jesus and life of Jesus was much like that. When truth shines into falsehood it overwhelms those who discover it.
Duke was a retired Bird Colonel in the Marine Corps. For 37 years he had served his country in every war since the 1920's. One morning during the Sunday School Lesson the class was discussing Capitol Punishment. Suddenly out of nowhere came the voice of Duke ..."OH, MY GOD, I'VE BEEN A PROFESSIONAL KILLER FOR MOST OF MY LIFE." It was a moment of light shining into darkness. It was a moment of awakening. Now Duke was free. He could see the darkness that had held him. Now he was free to do something about it. He did do something about it. He became one of the most sensitive and caring members that church had.
It came as a blinding light. From that day his life was never the same. He gave most of his time building life.
The awareness of our short comings is the light of God shining.
The awareness that we are creatures of worth and value is the light of God shinning within us.
The hunger to rise above evil ... is to experience real true love is the light of Christ shining within us.
II. There is another attribute of the light of Christ which is experienced by most which I personally love to visualize. The ethical teachings of Christ are a beacon to guide us through life.
One of times forgets how important this is.
It was a cold October evening in 1973. The wind was still. The waters of Bogue Sound and it tributaries were as smooth as the surface of a small farm pond. It was a dark, cloudy night ... a perfect night for Flounder Gigging.
A friend and I took my boat, a battery light ,and two gigs and headed off into the night to fish. The tide carried us along the bank of the waterway, then the river, and then a creek, and another creek, and another creek. Our attention was on the task at hand. Our heads were down so we could concentrate on the bottom. Every now and then we would add another Flounder to our catch. After several hours the light began to go dim ... our battery was loosing its power, and we discovered it was almost midnight ...time to go home.
We discovered that in a totally dark environment there were no landmarks. We were lost. The only thing we could see was a far off buoy light. Between us we agreed on where the light was. We knew that was our way home. Little by little we made our way in that direction. Fortunately the tide was going out. It pulled us along into larger tributaries until once again were in the waterway, and on our way home.
Jesus was and is like that light. In our day we are surrounded by evil. It comes in the guise of hate, bias, dishonesty, greed and Jealousy. The light of good, integrity blinks on and on letting us know whose and who were are.
It was the first time I had ever been in a State Prison. I went with a group from our church and our neighboring black United Methodist Church. We went to the Women's Prison to sing some Christmas Carols, and share some refreshments. We were all somewhat uneasy. So were the prisoners. When they came into the room. They were looking at the floor. Came looking like children caught in some mischief who were about to be punished. I think they came geared up for some old fashion guilt to be put on them by the church to straighten them out. We sang some carols together. They had to be coached and cajoled into helping us. Then we ate together. During the meal we had a chance to talk to each other. Shortly, they learned that we came with one intention only ... to share a little of the Christmas Spirit. We had brought some goodies and gifts. The last 45 minutes were unbelievable. The lights came on in their eyes. They were totally present. They sang the carols like they should be sung. We came home reliving the experience on the way. We had been part of something special. We did not create it. It came from another source. Christ came alive before our eyes? The prisoners became normal human beings. They were away from home, and family. They knew pain, and disappointment. They had been transformed from something less than human to regular people before our very eyes. The light of Christ had shined into that situation. Something changed in each of us there. Isn't that what we come here to celebrate today?
In his gospel John states that Jesus was the light which shined into the darkness of this evil world. He came that evil might be overcome, conquered.
Jesus is the one God has chosen to stand between us and Himself to represent us in His presence. Through him we are guaranteed eternal life. Let us strive with all our hearts to live by his example so we will not feel out of place when we get there. Amen.