Let the celebration and dancing begin!

John 8: 12 – 30

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’                                                                 

Jesus is still at the Feast of Tabernacles and uses a metaphor regarding Himself that everybody would understand. There was a ‘water pouring’ ceremony (John7: 37-39) and a ‘lighting of the lamps’ ceremony conducted at this feast. You can imagine that when the lamps are being prepared or even lit to allow the dancing and celebration of the reign of God among His people for anyone to claim to be the light of the world could only mean one thing; the coming of the reign of God among His people has been inaugurated by that person. This is exactly the personal claim of Jesus. It is another ‘I AM’ claim of Jesus. Jesus is the One who is the light that allows the celebration of the reign of God, the liberation of God’s people from all that enslaves them, the coming together of the community to walk together towards the promised home and to experience the ongoing forgiveness, reconciliation and care of an ever creating, redeeming and sustaining God. Here Jesus, in the midst of the ritual symbolism of the ancient people of God identifies Himself as the source of liberation and renewal for the whole world. In recent times we have experienced the extreme darkness of this world, globally, nationally and personally. The world is in a crises of fundamentalism, nationally we have competing identities and the striving to meet our own needs our own way and personally the securities that we once placed our trust in appear under attack through austerity measures and leaders that seem out of touch with ordinary people. But in this darkness a light shines; we could allow ourselves to be drawn towards this light of hope, reconciliation, interdependence, inclusion and the serving of others before ourselves. This light is powerful enough to light the whole world. This light is the teachings and practices of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. If we would follow, the celebration of the recovery of our true identity could begin. We are made in the image of God and can meet our needs individually and collectively in the way we were created to do so; simply hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice. Let the celebration and dancing begin!