Advent 2020 Reflection – Day Twenty-Three

Day 23 – John 1 3 – 4

³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Reflection

John continues to impress upon us the divine nature of Jesus. His presence and part in creation. In verse 4 John introduces another key them of his gospel, when he describes Jesus’ role as the giver of eternal life. John develops this idea later in his gospel as he explains Jesus’ role in bringing life to mankind.

John then goes on to use one of his names for Jesus – the light. This is one of the names of Jesus which I find particularly helpful. As I have spoken about in a previous reflection we need the light to see our way and to illuminate the dark places we sometimes would prefer to remain dark. When John wrote his gospel “light” was the ultimate value to the people. All good things were said to be “light,” and evil was “darkness.” As we can see from our own experience light reveals things. Jesus, as light, exposes to us the parts of our lives which are not quite as they should be, our sinfulness for want of a better word. But he does much more than this, he lights up the way that we should go to be redeemed. Light would also have implied to John’s readers both knowledge and awareness. with darkness seen as ignorance.

We also see that in these few short verses that the message Jesus comes to bring is for the whole of humanity. He is a light that shines in every corner of the world and in every persons life.

We have a torch in out house which has a mind of its own. It is bright but has a tendency to turn off randomly. It is easily fixed by banging it against something to re-connect whatever has become displaced.It is at the same time and excellent and useless torch. It perhaps reflects how we are sometimes in our Christian lives. Jesus calls us to reflect his light as we ourselves are lights to the world but sometimes we like our torch stop shining when we are most needed.However, we are blessed to have a Saviour who constantly shines in our lives and never falters in his love for us.

Silence

In our silence today we think of the times when something has been revealed to us when reading familiar scriptures. When the light has given us some knowledge and awareness that we had not seen before. When, perhaps God has given us a little tap and in doing so the light has switched on in our hearts.

Carol

I have chosen as our carol today – Who would think that what was needed which is number 222 in Singing the Faith.

With John’s declaration of Jesus’ deity and his nature as a light to humanity – we are awestruck that God has come to be with us. As John Bell puts it:

“God surprises earth with heaven
Coming here on Christmas day”.

Perhaps using my thoughts today this Christmas may be a tap on our lives which will surprise us and make us burst back into light.

Prayer

We thank you, that you are a light to our path, that your light guides each step of our way. Help us to open our eyes and see the way in which you are leading us. Lord we are often surprised by your presence in our lives, help us to see that those surprises help us grow closer to you.

Loving God, as your light shines in our lives, we know that it sometimes shows up things which we prefer to keep hidden. Help us to deal with those areas of our lives and ask your forgiveness, for we know that you are quick to forgive if we are truly sorry.

Lord, you have given us a responsibility to be a light in the world – a light which leads others to God. Help us to see, when we are tempted to think that our light is too dim to be of any use, that in a dark place even a tiny match shines brightly.

Lord gently tap us when our light has faded and help us burst back into light. Amen