15.05 | White Light
Galatians 3:15-4:20
‘But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.’
Galatians 3:25-26
One of the only science lessons that I can remember in primary school was about colour and light. We each were given a round disc, and told to colour it in with the full colours of the rainbow. Our teacher’s husband, Mr Devenport, came in for the afternoon, with his electric drill. One by one, he attached our disks to his drill, and turned it on.
I remember it because I fully expected the mix of colours at these whirring speeds to behave like paint. I expected mixing all of the colours of the spectrum together like this would create a kind of mucky brown.
What actually happened was that each spinning disk (depending a little on the quality of our colouring) turned white.
As I learned that day, white light is in fact all the colours of the spectrum. White is what happens when every colour converges in the same place. White is not really a colour; it is every colour. It is what happens when every colour of creation happens at once.
This picture is a good one for the person of Jesus in the Scriptures. Because the Old Testament gives us many different visuals and colours of God’s redemptive work through history. It gives us pictures of temples and sacrifices, kings and prophets, death and life, priests and shepherds.
And it gives us pictures of the law and of promises.
The person who reads these colours of the Old Testament begins to realise something.
That they all converge on Jesus.
That the story of the temple — that house of God’s presence upon the earth — converges on Jesus.
That the story of the sacrifices — those offerings made in faith that led to reconciliation and redemption — all converge on Jesus.
That the story of the kings — those broken and brilliant leaders, who demonstrated that the trajectory of the people was established by the purity of their king — all point to the ultimate King: Jesus.
And, in today’s reading, Paul tells us that these two other huge themes — promises and law — all too converge on Him.
The promises given to Abraham and Sarah — of a coming Son of Promise, who would bring blessing to all nations — converges on Jesus.
The law — that vision of holiness, which served not to perfect humanity but to expose our utter brokenness — converges on the perfect life of wholeness and love that was found in Jesus.
Jesus is the white light that brings every colour and hue of the Old Testament together. He is the completion of every image and metaphor, the perfection of every promise and ideal. He is the nexus of history and the focus of all faith and life and purity and power. He is, in the most essential way, the gospel of God.
Paul’s writing to the Galatians is a work of reorientation back to the simplicity and sufficiency of Jesus.
How greatly do we need this.
We need it to understand the Old Testament, for sure — to understand that every incomplete colour of the Old Testament could not find its fullness until all images converged on the single person of Jesus of Nazareth, who perfects them all in the brilliance of His light.
And we need, because this is not merely a theological ideal: it is way of being. It is a way of direction and choosing and living and sleeping and eating and living in all of our days. Because every story truly converges on Him.
Including mine, and including yours.
For this we were created. And towards His light we live.
Reflect:
Let your mind wander over the various parts of your life right now.
Draw each one of these towards Jesus.
How does that change how you inhabit places today?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
I’m caught by both the simplicity of your Way,
And by my tendency to be distracted.
It comes more naturally to me to be distracted,
Than to hold my focus;
It comes easier to be frantically anxious,
Than to be peacefully attentive;
It comes more readily to me to chase my dreams and ambitions,
Than to make you my ambition.
And yet,
The simple way is better.
And so, Spirit of God,
I invite you today:
Fill me,
Simplify me,
Make my every heart and intention and idea and ambition,
To be in the simple direction of Jesus,
That my every moment,
My every task, thought, word, deed,
May be directed towards Him,
Standing with Him as a true child of the Father.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Samuel 13-14 | Psalm 64