Would you like to understand what it means I am the light of the world? This expression is found three times in the Bible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). And in the Gospel of John, the Lord says twice: “I am the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5). We will focus mainly on the passages of this Gospel that present Jesus as the light and show us how he has been received by men, believers or unbelievers.
The light of the world and of men
The Gospel of John opens majestically by introducing us to Jesus as “the Word”, an expression of what God is, his full and complete revelation. First, the eternity of him is affirmed.
- “In the beginning was the Word…” (v. 1).
This Word did not come into being. She “was” “in the beginning”, was “with God” and “was God”. He is a person other than God, but who is God. She is also the creative Word:
- “All things were made by her” (v. 3).
Let men not mix their reasoning with these infinitely lofty revelations!
Once there were partial communications from God to the people of Israel. It is the Old Testament. They have brought some light to men; and above all they announced the coming of Christ. There is nothing more important than this coming.
You can also learn about:
- “No one ever saw God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he made him known” (v. 18).
As a step?
- “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth” (v. 14).
But the men to whom God thus revealed himself were far removed from him and in a miserable condition because of sin. They were “in darkness,” ignorant of the true nature and character of things, blind to their own condition, and blind to God.
In addition, they were morally “dead“dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5). The divine Word, coming into the world, contained in himself everything necessary to remedy his condition.
- “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
How did you receive this light?
- “The light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not understand it (V. 5).
In nature, the arrival of light dispels darkness. But in the moral universe it was not so. Men, at least the majority of them, have rejected the divine light and have remained in its darkness. It will be explained why in Chapter 3.
I am the light of the world – an exposed testimony
Shortly before Jesus Christ entered into his ministry, God sent a forerunner to Israel to prepare their way. It is John the Baptist. “This one came to bear witness, to bear witness to the light, so that all might believe in him. He was not the light, but to bear witness to the light: the true light is the one that, coming into the world, enlightens everyone” (v. 7-9).
John’s role was to call attention to the coming of the One who came after him but was before him (v. 15). Taught directly from God, he was able to bear witness that Jesus is “the Son of God” (vv. 32, 34).
The true light, which comes into the world, “enlighten everyone” (v. 9). The Gospel of John shows us its effect on different people who have received or rejected it, and we can consider some of them. But, received or rejected, this light has been felt as the one that reveals the true state of the soul.
Do you hate the light or do you come to the light?
In Christ, divine light has come into the world. She revealed what God is, both his holiness and his horror of evil, and his grace to forgive the guilty. She also revealed what man is, his desperately evil nature and his inability to meet God’s just demands.
Poor me! most men have shown that they prefer not to see reality. They preferred to remain in the dark and delude themselves about their own state.
Their hearts were not sensitive to the love of God and the gift of his grace. They rejected the salvation that God offers on the basis of the work of Christ. That is why they have placed themselves under the judgment that will inexorably come upon them.
- “This is the judgment: that light has come into the world, and that men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their works are not erased” (3:19-20).
However, there are survivors. These are the ones who let the divine light shine into their hearts. They saw their state of sin and confessed their faults. The divine light also revealed to them the infinite grace and love of God.
They learned and believed that Christ’s work on the cross provided a perfectly sufficient basis for God to grant them full and just forgiveness. They accepted Jesus as their Savior.
Now they follow Jesus. They have received a new nature and love the light.
- “He who practices the truth comes to the light so that his works may be revealed, so that they may be done in God” (twenty-one).
An example – in Samaria on the phrase “I am the light of the world”
John chapter 4 presents us with Jesus’ encounter with a woman from Samaria. Our Lord’s way of acting is admirable: his words are intended above all to attract the heart of this person, awaken in him the desire to know the “living water” that he brings, this water his soul (vv. 10, 13, 14). .
Then the light floods his soul, bringing out his depraved life and the sins of which he is guilty. But this light joins the love that attracts. And he is not rejected. God’s work takes place in his soul. She receives the Savior. And she in turn, she calls the men of the city:
- “Come, see a man who told me all that I have done; Is not this Christ? »(V. 29).
- And “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him, because of the word of the woman who had testified, he told me all that he had done” (v. 39).
God’s work is also done in their hearts, and finally, they can say to the woman:
- “It is no longer by your words that we believe; for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he is truly the Savior of the world” ( 42).
The divine light had illuminated their hearts and they had received it.
Another example – in Jerusalem on the phrase “I am the light of the world”
At the beginning of chapter 8, the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the people, bring Jesus a woman “caught in adultery“. What they have of light from the Old Testament makes them discern that it is a serious sin that should result in stoning.
However, they have rejected the light of Christ and are still in darkness. Therefore, they do not realize that they too are guilty before God. As they look for an opportunity to find Jesus at fault, so they can accuse and kill him, they set a trap for him:
- “Moses ordered us to stone those women: what are you saying? ( 5).
Jesus leans over, writes with his finger on the ground. Then, standing up, he answered them:
- “Whoever is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her!” ( 7).
Then he leans down again and writes on the ground. The divine light illuminates these men, highlights their real state and their deceit. But they can’t stand it and they leave one by one.
The woman has also been brought to light. The Lord did not say a word that would lessen the severity of her lack.
- “Has no one condemned you?…Me neither, I do not condemn you; go away, from now on sin no more” ( eleven).
He came to bring “grace” and “truth.” The words that the Lord utters immediately after this scene are directly related to it.
I am the light of the world;
- He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12).
In their natural state, all people walk in the dark. But those who follow Jesus, those who received him, those who believed in him, are no longer in darkness. They have the light, the light of life. They walk in the light. Here we find, intimately associated, light and life, as at the beginning of the gospel (1: 4).
- “The light of the world” shone before the Jews who had come to question Jesus. But they rejected the Savior and remained in their darkness. They hated the light because their works were evil (cf. 3:19).
For the second time in this gospel, the Lord introduces himself as “I am the light of the world“. It is in chapter 9, which reports the healing of a man blind from birth, a wonderful image that puts before our eyes a man who passes from darkness to light, in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense.
- On his way, the Lord meets a man “blind from birth“(v. 1).
It is the occasion for him to fulfill”the works of God“, those works of power and liberation that the Father has entrusted to him. He is in the world for a short time, and he must work while it is day, because
- “The night is coming, in which no one can work.” Jesus then declares, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (v. 5).
- There is a time when we can benefit from this light (12:35). For everyone, this moment can end forever.
What will we do with it?
In the conclusion that he expresses at the end of the chapter, the Lord highlights the determining nature of this light that comes into the world.
- “I have come into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see; and those who see are blind” (v. 39).
Those who thought they could see and rejected Jesus, especially the educated Jews, were shown blind. Those who knew they were blind and believed in Jesus, like the man healed in this story, were brought to light.
The Lord’s care to gradually develop this man’s spiritual vision during this story is just as remarkable as His miraculous intervention in opening his physical eyes.
Walking during the day and walking at night
In chapter 11, the Lord performed one of his most remarkable miracles: he raised Lazarus from the dead, who had been in the grave for four days.
- By the manifestation of his power he is “glorified” as “the Son of God” (v. 4).
However, as a perfect man, he always acts in complete dependence on God. The disciples may be surprised that he is going to Judea, where his life is threatened, but he is going there at the right time, regardless of human considerations. In this regard, he recalls that there are twelve hours in the day: time is limited (cf. 9:4) and must be used to work according to God’s will.
The Lord lays down the general principle:
- “If someone walks by day, he does not flinch, because he sees the light of this world; but if anyone walks at night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him” (vv. 9, 10).
Let us follow the example of the Lord, who walked by day, who faithfully fulfilled the task that the Father had entrusted to him.
Believe in the light, be children of the light, do not dwell in darkness
In chapter 12, the Lord is at the end of his public testimony. Many times the Jews sought to kill him and constantly dispute his words by saying: “I am the light of the world.”
However, he makes one last call to them. “Yet for a moment the light is in your midst; walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not take over you; and he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.
While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be children of the light. Jesus said these things, and he went and hid himself from them” (v. 35,…