I love how this gospel starts. I am struck by what a powerful statement of faith this passage contains. The author, John, knew Jesus. Lived, walked, worked, ate, slept, ministered, etc with Jesus for years. A lot of very mundane things. But he also saw the miracles of Jesus, his love, his wisdom, his knowledge of scripture, and, ultimately, his death. And here John declares, "This man I lived with is the Eternal God, the Creator of the universe, the Savior of the world, the Light of the world". We are called - in fact commanded, to believe the same.
I am also struck by the words of blessing and goodness in this passage: life, light, creation, children of God, glory, grace, truth, blessing. These things are contrasted with darkness. The focus is not on the darkness of the world or on the death of Jesus by that dark world (which John saw himself). The focus is the light and the amazing gift of Jesus "to all who receive Him". That is our calling also: to witness to the truth, to testify about the good blessings for those that follow Jesus to a dark world around us.
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I like that focus on the Light...
ReplyDeletev5 "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."
A footnote explains that "comprehend" here really means "overpower". To me this speaks about the true power of God/Christ. We are called to be His light to the darkness(world)[Matt5:13-15], this Light(Christ) can not be overpowered by the world, so even when we feel overpowered we should recall these verses and rest in His power, rest in His Light, the Light that darkness cannot comprehend.
Amen!
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