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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will
remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is
this ‘Son of Man’?”
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the Light just a little
while longer. Walk while you have the Light, before darkness overtakes you.
Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the
Light while you have the Light, so that you may become children of Light.”
When He had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid Himself from them.
John 12:34-36
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Jesus was in Jerusalem for His final week
of earthly human life. He fully knew His destiny, that in just a few days He
would suffer and die by crucifixion to pay the price for the sins of all
mankind. This bitter end was the will of His Father and Jesus would be obedient
to Him the entire way.
Of course, Jesus also knew that His death
was not the end. For He understood that God, His Father, would lift Him up from
the grave through resurrection power, bringing Him from death to life before
returning Him back to the heavens to sit at His right hand in authority over
heaven and earth.
A price was required to bring salvation to
all people and Jesus was that sin sacrifice that would bring atonement to all
who would believe in Him as Savior.
This message of salvation to all people was
important in first century AD because the belief at the time was that salvation
belonged only to the Jews. Anyone who was not a Jew was without hope, that is
until Jesus came. Through Him, the opportunity for eternal life would be
offered to the Jew and the Gentile. All could qualify if they placed their
trust in Jesus, the One who was the only way to the Father as He would proclaim
later in this Gospel (John 14:6).
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had
proclaimed Himself as something else and this directly applies to the words
found in today’s scripture passage as Jesus addresses a group which included
some Greeks in the area outside the temple, the area designated for Gentiles to
pray, the area that had been used as a marketplace before Jesus cleared it for
its proper use.
Here’s what Jesus had said about Himself
earlier:
“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
With this as a backdrop, now look at today’s
passage from John’s twelfth chapter:
The crowd spoke up,
“We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can
you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
Then Jesus told them,
“You are going to have the Light just a little while longer. Walk while you
have the Light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does
not know where they are going. Believe in the Light while you have the Light, so
that you may become children of Light.”
When He had finished
speaking, Jesus left and hid Himself from them.
Note here the people listening to Jesus
were getting confused by the number of names used to describe Jesus. The name “Messiah”
was very familiar to them through the words of the Law and the prophets but
Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of Man had them confused. So we find Jesus
shifting the discussion to matters that would be simpler to talk about: light
and darkness.
As we saw prior, Jesus had declared Himself
as the Light of the world and now He lets them know that the Light would only be
with them a little longer. In fact, Jesus would be dead on the cross in just
four days. And so He encouraged His listeners to walk with the Light while the
Light was still with them. They were to avoid the darkness because without
light present, there is no way to see the direction one is going. This is why
the darkness is Satan’s domain. He wants to keep people from the Light because
if they found it, then they would see they were heading in the wrong direction
and change course to walk with and in the Light. Jesus encouraged everyone
gathered to believe in the Light and follow it for this would be the only way
that they might be children of the Light (or in other words, seen as intimately
connected to the Light like family).
Indeed, today as it was then, people are
called to come to the Light of Jesus before the darkness of Satan and sin
overtakes them. That darkness could even be extended to dying without having
been saved, a situation that would destine someone to live in eternal darkness
and the torment of damnation.
And this leads to the question which forms
the title for this message:
Are you walking in the Light or walking in
the darkness?
The answer hinges on your relationship with
Jesus.
If you have one, then you are walking in
the Light as He is the Light of the world, the Light who has come to lead all
people out of darkness and into salvation.
However, if you have rejected Jesus then
you have rejected the Light and chosen to live in darkness instead, the place
where Satan and sin abide.
The good news today is that you can come to
the Light if you have been walking in darkness. Jesus is ready to receive you
if you would just surrender your life to Him, repent of your sins, and commit
yourself to live as He did, following His will and way as you help seek others who
are in the dark find the Light themselves (Matthew 28:18-20).
For there’s no higher calling we have been
given by God, our Maker and Master, than to live in the ways of Jesus, ways
that will always bring us into the light.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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