Jesus and the First Day, 2
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” - Genesis 1:3-5
“And God saw the light, that it was good…”
Jesus speaks about seeing the light—
“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” - John 11:9
Is Jesus speaking in riddles here? Come on, make it simple!
Well, in Palestine, so close to the equator, there’s twelve hours of day light. Jesus lived in this region of the world when He was on earth, so it’s not that hard to understand what He’s asking there. Most people walk around in the day. The night is when it’s more risky to go about. For one reason, it’s harder to see. But also because of something else that Jesus speaks of here. He speaks about light being inside someone. He says that if someone goes about in the night, he stumbles. Why? “Because the light is not in him.” It sounds like Jesus is appealing to common sense here.
Today, we have lost a lot of common sense. So we need a renewal of light. Going about in the night is a greater risk to the life which has been given to us. That life, being the light of every human being, is borrowed. Therefore it should be cherished as an entrusted good. When death creeps in, the darkness can seem inescapable. Yet, Jesus says that one can have light in himself. Yes, in himself. So that, even though darkness may be all about, darkness which we cannot control, we may cherish and keep the light we have been entrusted with, and by that means, overcome the encroaching night.
In the story where Jesus says these words, there is a crisis at hand, a crisis of life and death. The friend of Jesus, Lazarus, is sick and near death. Jesus’ life was also threatened in Judea. Yet, in order to go and “wake him up”, referring to Lazarus, Jesus goes into the danger zone. This seems thoughtless, reckless. After all, His disciples even ask, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” They seem to be the ones with the common sense, and Jesus appears to be throwing His life away. Yet Jesus’ response appeals to a wisdom that basically goes over their head.
That wisdom is love.
Though Jesus was going into the realm of darkness, the dominion of the night, He saw the light of this world, the true light, which is the love of His Good Father. It was this light which He saw, and thus He did not and would not stumble.
John speaks of this later,
“He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” - 1 John 2:10-11
Life, light, and love are then inseparable. According to this Scripture.
Jesus shows us in this story that what appeared to be a darkness to His disciples, was actually light. The love for His friend Lazarus, and His disciples, for His enemies, and ultimately for His Father, led Him to go and raise Lazaraus from the dead. This act of self-renouncing love, which would “seal His fate” as it were, was actually a foreshadowing of His greatest victory over the powers of darkness, which would bring immortality to light.
The darkness of death, the night of the grave can seem to be a bondage which none can escape, yet liberty from death would be revealed on the day of Jesus’ own resurrection, the first day.