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.” (ESV)

I’m sure most of us have heard it said that Jesus is “the light of the world,” but I don’t think I’ve ever put the verse into context. Jesus has just been to a feast where he was confronted by people who want him dead. In the middle of teaching, an adulteress woman is brought to him, the Pharisees want to stone her, and when Jesus steps into that mess, they eventually leave her alone. Right after all this craziness, he starts off with, “I am the light of the world.”

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The opposition of light is darkness, and any Alaskan knows what that’s all about. I remember when I was a young firefighter, a day when we had to go out to a highway crash in the middle of our dark, cold winter...

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We pull up to two very smashed cars in the middle of the Seward Highway, where there are no traffic lights. My senses are disorganized with the flashing of the red and blue emergency lights and the wail of sirens. I am trying to talk with a person who was in the car, but I’m struggling. My brain is going a thousand miles an hour and my eyes are darting around trying to figure out what I need to do first. The next thing I know, a beam of intense white light breaks through the chaos and engulfs my patient. It was my captain with a handheld flashlight from the engine. He brought light, quite literally, and order to a very chaotic situation.

Maybe you’ve felt that before, too. We can all point to a situation where life has seemed crazy and out of control. This might be you right now, staring down a situation that seems dark and ominous. But here’s the news that is sometimes beyond belief: “God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33).  The devil is all about chaos and fear.  

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In the middle of nowhere on that car crash call, fear and chaos were definitely the emotions I felt. But like my captain with his flashlight, Jesus brings a light that cuts through the fear and says we got this, let’s take a step forward. Where there is light, you can’t have darkness; when we have Jesus, we may walk into places that are dark, but we will never be in the dark.  

Jesus, we pray for your amazing power and your victory over darkness. Jesus, I pray that, as we walk in this life, we know your light will never leave us, and when darkness may seem to be always around, we can bask in the light of YOU. Jesus we love you and praise you. Amen.