The Light of the World

One

Christ as the Light of the World

From November 5th until the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th we are preparing to consecrate or renew our consecration to Jesus through Mary. St. Louis De Montfort suggested 33 days of growing in knowledge of self and of a greater knowledge of Jesus. So we are going to spend this time getting to know Jesus better at the School of Mary in the Rosary.

John chapter 1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…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 true Light that enlightens every man was coming into the world…and to all who received him – he gave power to become children of God. 

When Jesus was presented in the Temple, Simeon saw the Christ-child and praised him as the Light of Revelation to the Gentiles. Later, when Jesus came to the Temple as a grown man he declared, “I am the Light of the World; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

We’ve heard so often that Jesus is the light of the world, but we probably haven’t stopped to think about it.

What does it mean for a person to be light? 

Two

Light does not illuminate itself

In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light,” and since then it has been perhaps the most mysterious and fascinating of all the inanimate things in God’s created universe.

Even those of us with no science background know that the study of light has led the way in the development of modern physics. The mysteries and beauty of light are constant sources of human wonder.

And here’s just one aspect of light to meditate on: Light doesn’t shine on itself. You never actually “see” light. You see the things that light illuminates. By hitting objects and returning to your eyes, the light makes things distinct, clear, and identifiable. Jesus is the Light. He is the one who makes clear, who reveals, who testifies. But again and again, He emphasizes that He does not shine light on Himself. 

So what does He enable us to see? What does He reveal? What does He illuminate by His coming?

Three

Glorifying the Father

Jesus says, over and again, that He does not bear testimony to Himself (Jn 5:31), and that He does not seek His own glory (Jn 7:18). It is the Father whose glory He wants, and it is to the Father that He wishes to testify – He wishes to reveal the Father. That is why He says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Jesus comes from the Father and He wishes to make His Eternal Source known. If you walk into a dark room and switch on the light, what will be the most illuminated object in the room? The light bulb, the source of the light.

So Christ has come to illuminate His Father. He has come to show us the loving Fatherhood of God. So that we may praise and Love the Father as He does. That’s the primary thing we mean when we say that Jesus is the Light of the World.

We mean that He shows us the Father of Lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift.

Four

Dispelling the Darkness

But light also illuminates things other than just its own source. It illuminates everything around it.

So He has come to reveal us to ourselves. To tell us who we are, and what we are made for. He has come to prevent us from “walking in darkness.” (Jn 8:12) And that means sin.

St. John Chrysostom points out that a person living in sin and vice is just like someone in a dark, crowded room. He doesn’t know a friend from a foe, which is why he is constantly fighting with his brother whom he should love. He doesn’t know a safe object from a sharp, pointed object which is why he tries to grasp things that will only hurt him.

Christ has come to clarify things for us. Show us what we’re doing. Of course, some people would rather be left in their ignorance. They would rather not think about their lives, or their characters, what they should be doing with their lives, and all the ways they fall short.

This is exactly what John writes, “though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, anybody who does evil hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light.”

This is the mark of a true Christian, drawing ever closer to Christ they become more and more aware of their sins. The mark of someone not close to Christ, someone who does not stay near the light, is that they are more bothered, more indignant, more upset about other people's sins rather than their own. This was exactly the problem with the Pharisees. They thought they saw the fault of all those around them and they were completely blind to their own glaring sins. If that’s your experience, then even if you call yourself a Christian, it’s a sign you are still walking in darkness. But, if you see your own sins more clearly now, don’t be discouraged because it’s the proof you are walking in the Light!

Five

Disciples as the Light of the World

So not only is Christ the Light of the World, but He has told us, in the sermon on the Mount, that we too are to be the light of the world. Our good deeds, the way we live as Christians, and our willingness to evangelize, this is how the Gospel is spread. Only, let’s not forget that light isn’t supposed to illuminate itself.

Let’s not use Jesus as a way of promoting what we are. Let’s use what we are as a way of promoting Jesus, who will in turn make the Father known to all His beloved Children.