John 12:44-50
44Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47″As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
George MacLeod, a Scottish pastor, once said: “Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died about.”
In today’s scripture reading we hear Jesus proclaim God’s purpose in sending him to earth. He proclaims in verse 46: “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the darkness.” Think about it: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world to shine in its darkness. Jesus is not afraid of the dark, of the scary places, of the dirty and unhealthy parts of this world!
As a Christian, I am often tempted to (and guilty of) confining my faith to my church building. I attend meetings, committees, practices, and social events in the safety of the light. My light is hidden in the light, my faith is protected and safe. But Christ went into the world as God’s ambassador. When people saw him, they saw God (v.45), when people heard him, they heard God (v.49) and when people rejected him, they rejected God (v.48).
God spoke through Jesus in the same way Jesus wants to speak through Christians today. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
As an ambassador of God’s light where are you shining? Are you hiding your light in the safe, light places or are you shining in the darkness of this world?
Youth Department