“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”-John 1:1-5 NIV.
In college I took a class all about mammals. My professor was and still is the leading bat biologist in the state of Oklahoma. Inevitably many of our classes involved bats. During that semester we went on several field trips. Honestly, that was a big part of the reason why I enjoyed the class as much as I did.
A typical bat catching field trip involved going out at sunset and waving giant butterfly nets arounds at the mouth of a cave while the bats whizzed passed and sometimes flew into the person waving the net. My favorite trips were when we went spelunking. I loved crawling into the caves through narrow crevasses, jumping over underground creeks, and army crawling through tunnels that connected large caverns. These trips weren’t all fun and games; we were there to swab and test bats for a deadly fungus.
It was on one of these spelunking adventures Professor Martin took us deep into a cave. He gathered us all together in a cavern and had us all turn our lights off. Lastly, Dr. Martin turned his light off.
Darkness. Pitch black.
I’m talking the kind of darkness that you could punch yourself in the face and wouldn’t see it coming! I didn’t want to move in that moment. I was frozen. Frozen with the fear of bumping into one of my classmates, tripping over a rock, running into one of the cavern walls, or falling down one of the cracks we had just jumped over to enter into the cavern.
I was disoriented. Lost. Hopeless.
Thankfully, only for a moment since I still had my headlamp on my head. All I had to do was click the button to turn back on the light. I couldn’t imagine how I would manage facing the dangers that lurked in the cave without a light to guide me.
Friends, that’s exactly where many people find themselves today. They are stuck in the cave. Left in total darkness. Left without hope. Without a light to guide them.
Imagine if we were to fully embrace our role of letting the light of Christ shine through us; how different would our families, our schools, our churches, how different would our communities, and our world look?
Instead of broken families, we would have healing and wholeness. Instead of our friends killing themselves they would know they have a reason to hope and a future to look forward to. Instead of gathering together to only listen to a message we would go out applying the message we had just heard; changing the world around us in the process.
Instead of praying that Jesus would come rescue us out of our broken situations and this dark world, we would realize we are the light of Jesus desperately needed by the world!
Our mission is to bring Jesus into the world.
The task appears impossible, especially if you have gotten on social media or watched the news recently. You see murders, robberies, rapes, and more acts of violence happening close to our homes.
It’s no wonder we fell overwhelmed with fear.
Then compound that with the daily struggles of our families trying to learn to live in close proximity of each other. Always getting on each others nerves. Truly testing just how much we want to be like Jesus at that moment.
It’s a struggle to bring light into the darkness.
Let’s take it another step further with all the struggles school and work has to offer. Difficult peers, coworkers, friends, teachers, and bosses, all testing to see if we are going to let our light shine bright.
It doesn’t take but a millisecond for us to see that the world is a dark and broken place. That’s the reason Jesus came. To show us that it is possible to live a life that brings light into a dark world.
John 8:12-“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””
We are created to bring the light of life into every situation we enter.
During His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said-“You are the light of the world. (I like how the amplified version states it-“You are the light of Christ to the world”) A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, Peter your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
In order for us to be His light we need to know how Jesus brought the light of life into the world. Put simply, Jesus went out and met peoples needs. He was generous with His time and energy.
In a blog I recently posted, I wrote-“see a need and meet that need”. That is exactly what Jesus did. He saw people with physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and He chose to meet their needs.
Jesus was generous towards people with physical needs.
“As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, be he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.”
A few verses later we find Jesus healing a leprous man. He provided food for thousands of people on a couple different occasions mentioned in the Gospels. Jesus didn’t stop with the physical, he met the emotional needs of the people around Him.
The 19th chapter of the Gospel of Luke opens with Jesus being emotionally generous towards a man who had everything money could buy him.
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter,”He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord,”Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him,”Today salvations has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””
To meet Zacchaeus’s emotional need Jesus established a relationship with him. Despite having large sums of money Zacchaeus did not have many friends because he was a tax collector. You might think tax collectors are despised in the U.S. today, but in ancient Jewish circles they were hated even more because they were considered friends of the enemy occupier. The often over taxed other Jews to gain more money.
It was a big deal for Jesus to befriend Zacchaeus. Another time, Jesus met with a Samaritan woman at a well who was an outcast in her community. Loving her in a way no man had ever loved her before. Meeting the needs of others was a common occurrence for Jesus. It was built into His way of life. His example of Generosity is one we are called to follow.
Jesus met the physical and emotional needs of people to expose their greatest need. The need for a relationship with God, spiritual resurrection, the light of light. We find Jesus exposing this need throughout the entirety of His earthly ministry, including His final breaths. Where He demonstrated the greatest act of generosity in human history.
“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said,”Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said,”He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said,”If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”There was a written notice above him, which read:THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:’Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “ Don’t you fear God,” he said,”since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said,”Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him,”Truly I tell you, Today you will be with me in paradise.”” Luke 23:32-43 NIV
Scripture is clear that everywhere Jesus went He generously met needs. Especially, when He went to the cross. If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus then you should be generously meeting the needs of the people around you.
In his letter James challenged us with these words-
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them,”God in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say,”You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that— and shudder.” James 2:14-19
Our culture has been overcome with a spiritual darkness. Our neighbors, friends, and family lack hope because they lack the light of life. We are all in desperate need of Christ and the hope He alone provides.
We, as followers of Jesus, as the Church, have been given the mission of carrying on the light of life to the world around us so that they might see the hope we have within us because of Christ.
When we generously meet the needs of people around us we bring hope into their situations. By meeting their needs they see that we care about them and truly believe they are valuable. We bring hope by letting our light shine in their darkest moments.
Earlier, we read that Christ came to seek and save the lost. I can’t help but go back to that pitch black moment in the cave when I think about seeking and saving. It was in that moment I realized I would not be able to get out of the cave on my own ability if I did not have a light.
Many of our friends and family members are metaphorically lost in the pitch black cave of this world. We are the search and rescue team sent by Jesus; empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the light of life desperately needed by all of humanity.
Friends, a successful search and rescue team actively seeks the lost. They don’t only gather together and hope the lost come to them. That’s why we must be in our schools and workplaces generously meeting needs. Bringing light to the lost and hopeless. So that people might see Jesus, the Light of Life within us.