sound of a soft breath

I am journaling through the book titled The Essential Jesus: 100 Readings Through the Bible's Greatest Story written by Whitney T. Kuniholm. He groups the first five passage readings under the title "Who is Jesus?" and writes the following:

In our first five readings, we'll consider the thoughts of three people who were close to Jesus: John and Peter, two of his key disciples, and Paul, who had a unique encounter with Jesus. Each of these readings describes Jesus in the loftiest terms. Later in our journey we'll get to the particulars of his life. But for now, we need to get the big picture, and that's where we'll start."

About the first passage Kuniholm writes "When Jesus appeared, it was like a candle in a dark room; people could finally see a way to God."

So here is the first of the 100 passages.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (John 1:9)

The analogy used here by the apostle John to introduce Jesus to his readers caught my attention as I read this passage. Jesus "the light". Sometimes a verse can just jump out at you and cause you to think in depth about what it means. As I have been thinking about the differences between light and darkness a few things became evident to me. First darkness just seems to exist with no apparent source, and because of that it is hard to grasp or define without understanding light. It just simply exists preventing us from seeing things clearly. It exists as a result of the absence of something else - Light. The definition of darkness is "the absence of light". Secondly, light changes darkness, but darkness cannot change light. You can not change light with darkness. You can't decrease light by turning up darkness.

Light is ...? Now try to define light in a simple sentence. I could not. It takes science and even then it is difficult. I looked it up. The American Heritage Dictionary says light is "Electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength in the range from about 4,000 (violet) to about 7,700 (red) angstroms and may be perceived by the normal unaided human eye." The definition starts off abstract and scientific and for me not even that relevant to how I relate to light. But the last part of the definition I can relate to: "may be perceived by the normal unaided human eye." Light is what we see. Our eyes are all about light. Light is like air in that our bodies interact with light constantly.

John says the life of Jesus is "the light of all people." His life IS light. The way he lived, the way he acted, the things he said while living as a human in this world gives us clarity of who God is, how he thinks, and what he wants from us.

THIS light has a clear source. Jesus. THIS light transforms darkness. THIS light can be perceived by normal unaided humans. THIS light gives me a clearer view of the invisible and infinite God.

| More on the Essential Jesus journey. |