March 18, 2012: 4th Sunday of Lent

Jesus is the light of the world.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life, for God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. (John 3:14-21)

Are you afraid of the dark? I always was when I was young. It is hard knowing what is in the room with you; what you might find when you turn the corner; what or who might be there. I always remember my brother trying to scare me if we were in a dark place. I don’t think most of us really like the dark (even my brother!). We like being in the light where we can see what is around us. And the gospel today has to do with light. It tells us that Jesus, the Son of God, is really the light that lights up the world.

Action:

Try today to think about how you feel when it’s dark and how you feel when it’s light–and especially think about how you would feel if there was never any light–if you had to depend on turning lights on all the time–if you could never run out to play because it was always dark. Then think of Jesus walking into your house and bringing light with him–and give him a big hug for bringing light into your life.