21.10 | Follow the Light

John 7:53-8:30

‘Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”’

John 8:12

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We’re still at the Feast of Tabernacles.

We’ve mentioned the tents, that recalled the forty years in the wilderness.

We’ve described the significance of water, visualising God’s life, flowing from above, bringing abundance and vitality for God’s people and beyond.

Today, our image is light. And light was also a key theme of the festival.

On the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, gigantic candelabras would be set up on the top of poles in the outer court of the temple complex. Four youths would carry around oil up ladders, to pour into the four huge (36 litre) bowls surrounding them. These enormous torches would then be lit, in a ceremony known as The Illumination of the Temple. The flaming lights was memory and it was story — recalling the pillar of fire which led the people through the wilderness. It was a symbolic marker of the presence of God in His temple, shining in glory and manifest in light that reveals, clarifies, and leads. Those lights from the temple brought light to the whole city. To put this differently, the city could see because light came from the temple.¹

Into such themes, Jesus’ words again carry great resonance today.

I am the light of the world.

Inasmuch as God led the people through wilderness and toward the Land of Promise by the pillar of fire, so He leads His people towards the coming Land by His Son.

Inasmuch as light clarifies and illuminates knowledge and understanding of the true nature of things, so God has done so in the words and Way of His Son.

Inasmuch as those massive, flaming lamps in the temple gave light to the whole city, so God has shone the light of His presence and peace to the world in the face of His Son.

Light. 

And yet, we must be careful, for we can wander from this narrow path.

For when we think about light, we can often confuse it with mere knowledge. We can think that if we know things about Jesus, and things about the Scriptures — when we can recount His words and deeds and imitate His practices — that we must therefore know all about the light. We can join the religious teaching of any other religion, and assume that ‘light’ means a set of ideas by which we can proclaim ourselves to be enlightened. By which we can claim ourselves to be wise.

And yet, my friends, look closer at what Jesus says:

I am the light.

This is distinct. This is different. This is unique.

For the Lord of light is reminding His people that the way to talk with true sight is not found in a set of knowledge of habits, but, simply and beautifully, in their basic relationship with the King. 

He is the temple.

He is the presence.

He is the flaming torches that illuminate the city of God.

He is the light of the whole world.

And He, and He alone, is the friendship, the relationship, the point of contact with God Himself, that leads us to walk in every situation — be it clarity and confusion, trouble and triumph, understanding or waiting — in the light that can only be known in Him.

Follow me. 

This is the sum and end of walking in the light.

For He was, is, and always will be

the Light of the World.

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Reflect:

Picture those flaming torches in Jerusalem at night.

What streets do you walk at the moment?

Lift your eyes. See Jesus. And ask Him to teach you how to walk in this moment.

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Pray:

Lord Jesus,

In this darkness that I see

Be my light.

In this pain that I endure,

Be my light.

In this sickness that I walk through,

Be my light.

In this fear that obstructs my path.

Be my light.

Be my light, 

That in every circumstance, every moment, every opportunity, every obstruction,

I may see how to walk,

Through simply walking it with you—

That I may walk the darkness of this night,

With the shining light of day

Inbreaking upon me

In you.

Lord Jesus,

In Your Name,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

Nehemiah 1-3 | Psalm 119:97-112

1. This ceremony is described in Mishnah Sukkah 5:2-3