Light of the World

I let my reflection on Jesus' I AM statements slip a little this week. I didn't think about the next one ("I am the light of the world") in John 8:12 until this morning.

This is a statement that is an obvious concept, but hard to seek. The movies even portray darkness as something evil: in dark alleys people get mugged; evil villains come out at night; dark clothes convey bad behavior. While they portray darkness in a bad light (get it?), they also show light as something associated with goodness: crime deceases in daytime; vampires will die in the light; the hero wears white clothes.

As familiar as this image is, I am amazed at how Jesus says, "Whoever follows me will NEVER walk in darkness." Are you sure that I will never walk in darkness? "Yes," Jesus would say, "because you will have the light of life; you have me."

As physical trouble (and "darkness") might surround those who belong to Jesus, they continue to walk in light because they follow Jesus' light-filled path. It might look dark, but it is not. Christians follow the path that is filled with hope; it is filled with life. They have eternal life that goes beyond the circumstances in which they find themselves. Despite the circumstances, they have 'the light of life,' that is, Jesus.