Spiritual teachers often speak in ways which take a little deciphering, and Jesus was no exception. One way in which he spoke was in parables, and if you read the bible carefully you find out that more often than not he would tell a cryptic story to ‘the masses’, but only explain it to his disciples.
Another way in which Jesus spoke in ways which need a little more examination was in metaphors and symbolism. One of these was when he referred to himself as the ‘Light of the world’. What did he mean by that? What is it that he would do to and for the world by being the Light?
He says that if you walk in the Light you will no longer be in darkness, which is basic understanding really, but it has a profound effect on us to be taken out of darkness or to be given light. Not only does light take away the darkness, but it gives us a whole new perspective to life, it gives us a whole new view of what is around us and the world.
If you want to try this then wait until it’s dark, draw the curtains in your front room, step out of the room, get your friends or spouse to move the furniture around and switch the light out. Then come back in with your eyes closed so you can’t cheat by the light behind you streaming in, and go to your favourite seat. Then do it again without turning the light off. What’s the difference? What did the light do? What difference did the light make?
When you walked into the room could you see the light? Not the bulb that is producing the light, but the actual light itself around the room? No, you couldn’t, you couldn’t see the light because actually you can’t see light, once you have taken your eye off the bulb (and got rid of the little spots!) you can’t see light. Light is what enables you to see what is around you. You don’t see the light, the light enables you to see.
You have a whole different understanding of your surroundings and of what things are because of the light, because the presence of the light has given you the ability to see clearly. Even in a dim light you can see better than in no light, dim light is better than no light. But when fuller light comes, then you may have to change your perception again. The presence of the light enables you to see what is there in front of you as plain as day.
What light also does is to stop your fears from controlling your brain. Most children at some point have mistaken their coat in the corner for a person, or the shadow of something for a ‘monster’ in the dark. When light comes in it dispels our fears, because we can see it is just a coat or whatever. The light didn’t change what the thing was, but the presence of the light simply changed our perception of what something was, it made it clear, and so dispelled our fears. This is what light does.
One important thing to remember about light and dark is that darkness cannot be switched on. The only way darkness can exist is by the absence of light. Darkness is utterly powerless against light. No matter how dark it is, once you switch a light on, the darkness disappears. It has to ‘flee’ from the presence of the light.
So this is what it means to be in the presence of the light, and so it is with Jesus, when he says he is the Light of the world, he is speaking, obviously, in a spiritual context, and his presence produces the same affect in our lives spiritually as the light in your room does to your room physically. It changes the perspective of how we see things, it shows us what is what. We cannot see the Light, but the presence of the Light enables us to see clearly what is there and what it is, it dispels our fears. And the darkness is utterly powerless against the Light.
Jesus said “I am the Light of the world.”
Oh, and also, Jesus said you are the light of the world too!
