And I was thinking about the role that light has played and
continues to play in our life as we think about the light shining
in the darkness. Just consider going through your
day without any light, without any artificial light, without
any natural light. Can you imagine trying to
navigate on the Kennedy Expressway without any light or
just even parking at the grocery store?
Parking at Costco? Zero light, let alone getting
your groceries, let alone making dinner.
No light to guide you. Can you imagine what it would be
like to try to meet people or even form, relate, form lasting
relationships if you had no light to to illuminate someone's
facial expressions and you think about what it would be like just
to stay, to keep yourself out of danger without any light.
If you think about the role of light, it just becomes clear
that physical light makes physical life possible, makes
human life possible. It allows for us to
differentiate what is what and allows for us to navigate and
form a life of love. Now, one of the claims that
Jesus Christ made about himself was that he was the light of the
world. Now in that he was not claiming
to be physical light. That was, that's what the sun
does. It already takes care of that.
He was claiming to be spiritual light.
In a world where we often feel confused and overwhelmed, Jesus
promised to answer the big questions of life like this.
Is there a God? And can we be in relationship
with that God in a meaningful way?
What's our purpose and calling in life when we hurt ourselves,
When we hurt other people and live with regret?
What do we do with the guilt and shame that we carry?
Is there anywhere we can take it to be free when we suffer?
Is there any meaning in our suffering?
Is there any hope when we're experiencing pain?
And where can we find love and belonging that will always be
there no matter what kind of day we're having?
See The thing is that we need spiritual light to navigate
those questions in life. And we all have these questions
and that's what Jesus Christ offers when he says I am the
light of the world. We're looking today at the 1st
or sorry, at the final lesson, the Gospel of John, page 16 in
your programs. You're welcome to follow along
if you'd like. And this, this poem, which
introduces a biography of Jesus, reveals 4 powerful functions of
spiritual light. And each of these are going to
sort of illuminate a different aspect of the human experience.
And as you hear these four functions of spiritual light, I
want to invite you to consider this question.
Where could we let the light in this Christmas?
Now the first function, the first powerful function that
John claims about Jesus is this light creates life.
Light creates life. John introduces his poem here
and he introduces Jesus here with with a word in Greek.
It's Lagos. And one of the ways we can
understand what Lagos means is it's like a divine blueprint.
It's translated as word with a capital W and it's and it's
Jesus, but Jesus bringing in God's blueprint for the world.
And he says this in the beginning was the word, in the
beginning was the Lagos. And he's John's sort of drawing
on the ancient book of Genesis. Some of you are familiar with
how Genesis begins in in the beginning, you know, God created
and what did God create? God let said let there be light
and there was light and then creation followed that light.
You don't have to be a religious person per SE to appreciate how
physical light brings about physical, physical light brings
about physical life. Scientists tell us that light in
the form of these ancient UV rays actually once played a very
significant role in carving out galaxies and sort of trapping
and maneuvering light and particles, waves and particles
into the world. We now know that light took an
active role in shaping even our Galaxy, and in our own gardens
we can see that like plants grow, when photosynthesis
happens, it takes and metabolizes the power of light
so that our tomato plants are nice and juicy.
Artists know this. In fact, the word photography
means to write with light. Light gives shade and color and
shadow, and it speaks a wordless beauty into any canvas or frame
or sunset. John describes Jesus as light
that gives way to life. When he says this, all things
were made through him and then in verse three he says in him
was life and the life was the light of men, the light of
humanity. Jesus, the light of the world
creates life. He once said this, you know, the
thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come
that they may have life and have it abundantly.
So you think about like, has anything stolen your hope?
And there's plenty of things in this world that can steal our
hope. But you know, Jesus, as the
light of the world promises, he comes to restore it.
Has anyone destroyed our trust? Has anyone left us hurt or
traumatized? Jesus came to restore that life
that was taken, and he speaks a wordless beauty onto the canvas
of our soul, no matter how much damage or hurt has been done to
it. Are we dying on the inside from
shame or guilt? Jesus offers forgiveness, a
fresh start and a never ending relationship with God.
You know, after a long spiritual winter, Jesus is like that
springtime Chicago sun that comes out and everyone's so
excited to bask in the light and be like, yes, restore me after
what was taken from me these last six months.
He's life giving, He's restoring, He's full of hope.
But the light doesn't just give life.
It has another function which which might feel bracing at 1st,
and that's this. That light doesn't just create
life. Light confronts darkness.
John tells us in verse 5 that
the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not
overcome it. The light of Christ disrupts and
overcomes the darkness of this world.
We might think of this as like the tough love way that the
light that the light shines. We can take an example from
everyday life. Imagine being deep asleep,
blackout curtains drawn. It's really cozy, it's really
warm. You're dreaming your best dream,
but you're also in that moment. In reality, you're missing your
flight unless you get up, or you're going to miss the
presentation at work, or the callback audition, or your kids
orthodontist appointment which has been scheduled for nine
months. And so unless someone shows some
tough love and opens the door and flicks on the light and
pierces your psyche with pain from like opening the curtains,
you're going to miss it. And and yet, once they do, once
they wake you up with that light, once the light shines in
the darkness, you're grateful for the light.
It doesn't feel good at first, but it's setting you free to
live the calling that you have for that day.
Light confronts darkness. Light exposes the truth, no
matter how painful. Now, this is true in the realm
of justice in society. The light of truth brings
accountability wherever there is corruption, and one Chicagoan
who lived this truth was known as Ida B Wells.
Ida B Wells Wells was a successful journalist in the
late 1800s. She was actually born to
enslaved parents and spent her life savings on starting a new
paper which became renowned. It was called the Memphis Free
Speech lived in Memphis. And as her career took off,
something happened which changed the whole trajectory of her
career. Three of her friends ran a
grocery store, and that grocery store came under attack from the
local white mob, which saw it as a threat and wanted to get
vengeance. And so in an act of defending
their store, these men, these three friends of hers, were
arrested. They were imprisoned and then a
mob came, broke into the prison and and put them to death by an
act of mob violence. Now, this was normal at the time
and people kind of were afraid to question this practice of, of
mob violence. And so she wrote about it in her
paper. And guess what?
The mob came after her paper and destroyed every piece of
equipment she had and they came after her too.
Where did she escape to? She came to Chicago and for the
next 35 years she continued exposing the ways that mob
violence was happening against people of color all over the
country. She tracked it down as one of
the first instances of investigative journalism and and
eventually it was outlawed. Now, here's a a quote that she
lived by. She summed up her life's work in
this way. The way to right wrongs is to
turn the light of truth upon them.
The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon
them. Now here's my problem.
I'm all for the light of truth being turned on someone else,
but it when it comes to my darkness, I'm much less willing
and comfortable for the light to shine on the dark corners of my
soul. And I'm so grateful that when
Jesus shines his light, it shines not only with truth, but
also with grace. Now, during his earthly
ministry, we see that Jesus found people who were sort of
like trapped in spiritual darkness, some kind of personal
darkness, and his light actually set them free.
Zacchaeus was a corrupt government official.
Everyone hated him. Jesus befriended him, came over
to his house. By the time dinner was over, he
was helping Zacchaeus pay back what he had stolen from other
people in society with interest. And Zacchaeus joy was restored.
There's another woman that he met in a town called Samaria,
and Jesus got into a conversation with her.
Again, very few people wanted to be her friend, but he brought up
this thing that was going on in her life, which was kind of a it
was an open secret, but she had a history of toxic
relationships. And he brought it up in such a
way that liberated her and set her free and her life was never
the same. Even the guy who wrote today's
gospel, John had an anger problem.
And Jesus had a nickname for him.
He was one of the sons of Thunder.
And by the time Jesus had shined his light in John's direction
for a number of years, just slow in a slow life on lifeway, John
was known as the Beloved Disciple.
He was known for love, tenderness, became a pastor and
lived for many years shepherding A flock, going through
suffering. Now this, these stories are
being multiplied over all over the world right now.
Millions of stories for billions of stories, quite frankly, of
the way Jesus shines his light on people and changes them from
the inside out. It's not to condemn them, it's
to bring them liberation. He just rolls back the spiritual
darkness. His light shines in the darkness
and the darkness doesn't overcome it.
Now maybe you have felt judged by someone's light before and
that's a terrible experience and I just want you to know it
wasn't right and that when Jesus shines his light in our
direction, it comes with grace and healing and joy and
unconditional love. If all that he did with his
light was to confront, it would be discouraging.
And that's why John goes on to describe 1/3 function of the
light of the world and that's this.
The light claims us as his own. He doesn't just confront the
darkness, He claims claims us as his own.
Ultimately the light of the world wants a relationship with
us. And that's why John says in
verse 9 the true light, which gives light to everyone was
coming into the world. Now John goes on to say not
everyone received the light. Not everyone was up for that.
Verse 12 says this. But to all who did receive him,
who believed in His name, He gave the right to become
children of God. Now in the ancient world, your
identity, your sense of existence and having a self
largely came through your family.
If you were orphaned, you had no identity.
You had no self. People didn't think of you as a
person. Sometimes people will get named.
They would just get a number. Your number is 4, your number is
5 because they didn't have a self.
So if someone were to adopt you, to claim you and bring you into
their family, not as a servant but as a child, it changed
everything for you. You didn't just get a place to
sleep and eat. You have an identity now.
You have a self. You're recognized.
You have a family to belong to, a legacy to keep, a blessing to
inherit and pass on. Your existence now matters.
So to be adopted was a profound act of grace in the ancient
world. It still is.
And that's what the light of the world came to offer.
He came to say no matter which family we came from, he came.
He comes to say, look, I know you, I love you, I choose you.
I claim you as my own. Welcome to the family of God.
Our context is a little different from the ancient
world. In the modern world, our
identities largely come through our accomplishments, and this is
especially true in the city. Many of us feel that if we
haven't made good, we don't matter much.
We believe that if we could just sort of advance ourselves a
little bit more, we would finally be recognized, that we
would finally have a self. And what does this do?
You know it gives way to punishing seasons at work, or
training to the point of injury, or painstaking hours of
posturing online, or just constantly searching for the
next self help hack self help book self advancement routine.
In the modern world, we find ourselves in this exhausting
cycle of trying to belong, being good enough to belong, being
good enough to be remembered or included, and just feeling that
ambient sense of shame that we haven't done it yet.
So if you're exhausted from proving you belong, but are
never sure, this light is for you.
This is a warm light that has come to claim you.
Just imagine in your life if you never had to strive again, if
you never had to prove anything else, if you never had to pull
yourself up from your bootstraps again because you knew you were
already loved, already chosen by Jesus, the light of the world,
who knows us and names us and claims us as his own, just as we
are. That's what he came.
That's what he's ready to do. Now, once he claims us, what is
the light of the world offer? And this is how John concludes
that the light communes with us. The light doesn't just claim us
as his own, He communes with us. John uses some poetic language
in verse 14 to describe how Jesus Christ, God's Son, became
a human being. He says this and the word that's
Jesus became flesh. That means that he was born as a
human being and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and
truth. John is helping us see this
truth. The light of the world became a
real person. He was born as a human baby to
to His mother was named Mary. His adoptive father was named
Joseph. He needed care.
He needed feeding and cleaning and love and attention just like
any of us did. He grew up to become a man and
he became a day laborer. And after a time of being a day
laborer, he, he invested himself in a small group of people where
he taught them how to love and how to live and how to lead.
He taught them what was worth dying for.
He taught them how to have a relationship with God.
He became friends with them. He ate around, he invited people
around the table. He walked in a suffering world
without any modern conveniences. He knew what it was like to
sweat and suffer and rejoice and feel lonely and, and pray.
The word became flesh. It was a human being and he
connected with people. He loved people, he befriended
them and through his spirit, he still does.
He still befriends people. This is what John talks about
when he says, we, we've seen his glory.
You know, the light became a human being and shone through
his life. A national study by Ohio State
University discovered that 2/3 of parents reported isolation
and loneliness. You don't have to be a parent to
know that like, depending on the season that you're in, you might
feel lonely. Sometimes you have more friends
in your life than other times, especially when responsibilities
pile up, when you're moving to a new town, when you have a
medical set back, and the holidays are an especially
lonely time for many people. The end of the day, Jesus
Christ, the light of the world created, who created us, wants
to have a relationship with us, not just in the good times, but
in the hard times, not just when we're riding high, but also in
our lowest moments, not just in the life we have, but also in
the life to come. He will never reject us, He will
never hurt us, and no one else in this life can promise that.
He once spoke these words. He said.
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and He with
me. In these words, Jesus is saying
that He is pursuing us, He's seeking to connect with us and
this is still true. This invitation still stands.
It might be 6 months before we can get outside and bask in the
sun. That time is a long way off,
relatively speaking. And when that time comes, we
will probably put on our shorts and pursue the light and bask in
it and get warm and it will be great.
But this Christmas time, we do not have to wait at all to bask
in the spiritual light that has come to the world and is shining
right now. And my invitation to you is to
to be as. Intentional to bask in his
light, as you will be in six months.
To bask in the physical light. Let him recreate you from the
inside out. Whatever's died, let him
recreate you. Let him fill you with hope and
purpose again. Let him forgive any guilt.
Let him release any shame. Let him speak a better word over
your life and over your future. Let him claim you.
Let him commune with you. This might mean just taking a
moment to sort of pray to him directly in your in your mind
and heart. Simply Jesus, you are the light
of the world shine on me. It might mean reading the rest
of the book. That is, you know, we we read
the beginning of it tonight, the Gospel of John.
Whatever you do, my invitation to all of us is let's let the
light in. Let's let the light in.
And as we do, friends, I want to invite you to receive this
ancient blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep
you. May the Lord make his face to
shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious to you.
May the Lord look with favor upon you and give you peace.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Amen. Let's just take a moment of
silent prayer to give you an opportunity to invite the light
in.