Life Spark: There’s more to see when you look at Jesus. (John 9:5)
I guess dumb blond jokes are politically incorrect, but there is a joke about a golden-hair that really makes me chuckle. Blondie said she wanted to go on a spaceship and land on the sun. “That’s crazy,” her husband said, “You’d be fried to a crisp.” “No way,” his wife responded, “I’d go at night!”
Light is an amazing thing, and it’s mentioned twenty-one times in John’s gospel. Almost every mention is directed toward Jesus. He is called the light of men (John 1:4, NIV); the Life-Light (1:5, MSG); the true light (1:9, NIV); the light of the world (four times in John); the clear light (9:39, MSG); and the light (six times in John).
“’While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’” (John 9:5, NIV)
Notice the definite article. Not “a light,” but “the light.” That’s an audacious ‘I am’; that’s deity or insanity.
Light is hope; direction; illumination; attraction; life. Jesus is claiming to be that for anyone who sees Him for who He is. He is the whole spectrum of deep, unending life.
If you speak of ‘light’ with a scientific person, he or she will think of the electromagnetic radiation, radiant energy with wavelengths ranging from one billionth of a meter to over 60,000 miles.
Our eyes can only perceive a tiny sliver of that light. That miniscule sliver of light visible to us is light with a wavelength ranging from four hundred billionths of a meter (ultra violet light) to seven hundred billionths of a meter (infrared light). It’s like this. If a cable stretched all the way around the earth represented total light (every wavelength of electromagnetic radiation), visible light would be but a scratch of a pencil or pen on that cable. When it comes to light, there’s more than what we see!
When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” put on your best sunglasses! When the Apostle John saw the Lord’s glory shine through His earth-suit veil on the Mount of Transfiguration, he fell face down in shock and awe. If you and I saw His entire wavelength, His radiant glory, our eyeballs would pop like popcorn.
Jesus is the light of the world. He is hope, illumination, direction, attraction. Jesus is life. He’s the life-light. He is God’s invisible aliveness made visible. Put on your sunglasses and take a closer look.
Life-challenge: Ask Jesus Christ to open the eyes of your heart and show you something about Himself this week that you’ve never noticed before.