| A Good Friday Reflection – Jesus the Light of the World by Pr Lew Lee Choo, SIBKL |
| John 1:1-5 (NLT) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. The word light is Divinely rich in its comprehensiveness and meaning. Its material splendour is used throughout the Scriptures as the symbol and synonym of all that is luminous and radiant in the mental, moral and spiritual life of men and angels; while the eternal God, because of His holiness and moral perfection, is pictured as “dwelling in light unapproachable” (1 Timothy 6:16). But what is light and what is darkness? Light and life are almost synonymous, and in the same way, so are darkness and death. Light always brings joy and hope while darkness brings decay, despair, powerlessness, emptiness and even chaos. Yet darkness is just the absence of light. Light is created – it is an entity. Darkness is not. Why then does darkness seem to have such power? There are many types of darkness – but all speak of the absence of an element that brings the joy and abundance that we all know as life. Physical darkness is the absence of physical light. Intellectual darkness is the absence of information; emotional darkness, the absence of hope; relational darkness, the absence of love and acceptance; moral darkness, the absence of truth and where right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. Add to this financial darkness, which is not the absence of wealth but the absence of contentment, self-control and integrity. When darkness takes over a nation, it seems as if darkness has eclipsed all of life, dominating and oppressing an entire region. Yet the root cause of all darkness is not the absence of all of the above but the absence of God. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) What a statement! Think about this for a moment. Darkness can never overcome light! Light a small candle in a pitch-dark room and you can immediately see! The way out is visible! Fear is gone and hope arises in our hearts! Now add to this that God is light; how great then is that light, how powerful and indestructible it is. No matter how dark our world or how darkened the souls of men, all we need to do is to introduce the light and all that darkness immediately disappears! That then is the good news of Good Friday! Jesus is the Light of our world. No one who believes in Him should stay in darkness! (John 9:5; 12: 46) To embrace Jesus is to allow God’s Light to illuminate all the faculties of the soul: intellect, conscience, reason, will. “In thy light … we see light” (Psalm 36:9). His “life was the light of men” (John 1:4). No wonder the call of the prophet Isaiah is to “Arise, shine” because the power of His life shining through our life can dispel all the darkness in the world! This is the call of God to us this Easter: Is 60:1-3 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. |