4TH APRIL 2022
Dn 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; Ps 23:1-3a.3b-4.5.6; Jn 8:12-20
JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
It was the first night of the Jewish Festival of the Tabernacles (Festival of Booths), and Jesus was standing in the Court of the Women in the Temple courtyard in Jerusalem. It was evening, and Jesus was facing the huge blaze of light from the two colossal golden lamp stands, on which, as was customary for this evening, hung a multitude of lamps, lighted after the evening sacrifice. The light brightened the whole city of Jerusalem. Suddenly Jesus made the controversial claim, “I am the Light of the World,” which was saying that, like Yahweh, Jesus was the Light of the world.
This claim was seen by the scribes and Pharisees as his making himself equal to God (blasphemy), for Jews associated the word light with God. The Lord is my Light (Psalm 27:1). The Lord will be your everlasting Light (Isaiah 60:19). When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a Light to me (Micah 7:8).
The Jews challenged Jesus’ claim as one being made without two witnesses and hence baseless. But Jesus argued that he had another witness, God his Father, and, hence, that his claim was valid. He further declared that their counterargument was wrong because of their ignorance of who Jesus really was as the Son of God. We believe in Jesus’ claims because his miracles and his Resurrection from the dead prove that Jesus is God. Every Christian needs to receive the Light from Jesus and reflect and radiate that Light in the form of love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and humble service.
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