Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going

"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die. The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."

These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

- John 12:27-36

In yesterday's reading, we were told that certain Greeks had come to worship at the Passover feast, and they wanted to see Jesus. Jesus proclaimed that it was the hour in which He would be glorified. He said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in the world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." We look at these words and must see them in the context of what has come before. As noted in yesterday's commentary, when Jesus spoke of "his life in the world" he used the Greek word "psyche," which is usually translated as soul. Here, he uses the same word, psyche, when He says, "My soul is troubled." So, it is, in effect, an illustration of what He has just said. He feels with His human soul in this world, the deep troubling reality of what is to happen now that His hour has come. My study bible notes that this verse gives us a glimpse of the Gethsemane experience of Jesus, and so it does. And yet, He chooses to glorify the name of His Father -- to follow the purpose for which He came into the world.

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." We read the illustration of various impressions of a theophany or revelation of God in the world. My study bible has an important note on the idea of the Father's name, which I will quote. "The Father's name is an extension of His person. The Son worked for the glory of the Father, and His death is now to be offered up to complete that purpose and to show the Father's love for all people. The divine voice gives assurance that the death of Jesus is not humiliation but glorification through the fulfillment of God's plan for the redemption of the world."

Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die. My study bible says that lifted up is "a reference to the lifting up of Christ on the Cross, which is His glorification and will lead to the salvation of the human race. At the same time this event is a judgment on the unbelieving world of darkness and the abolition of the power of the ruler of this world, Satan." Christ's martyrdom (a "martyr" in Greek is a "witness") will be the testimony that carries the judgment of the ruler of this world. It is the great call that is sent out to all the universe in order to build the judgment that will be a victory for all human beings under captivity to that "prince" or "ruler of this world." And, indeed, for this purpose He has come and lived a life as one of us, and asks us to "Follow Him." He has referred before in John's Gospel to His own lifting up, when He compared it to Moses lifting the serpent in the wilderness. "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:14-16. The fact that we have just heard, in yesterday's reading, that the Greeks (who are Gentiles who've come to the Passover to worship the God of Israel) wish to see Him is also a signal for His last statement here -- that He will draw all peoples to Himself.

The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." Jesus' emphasis is on the light -- and His repeated emphasis that it is with them a little while longer. My study bible reminds us, beautifully: "Christ is 'light from Light' (Nicene Creed). In union with Him, we partake of His light, becoming children of light." So the time for argument is through; it is His hour. They must walk in the light while they have it, while He is yet with them. He calls all to faith now at every opportunity; His time is nearly over as a human being in this world.

These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. These words reflect the condition in which He will leave us. We have His light, but we must seek it for ourselves.

"Light from Light" - let us think about this phrase. What does it mean for you? It is so important to me that my study bible points out that this light is meant to illuminate us, so that we, too, may carry it with us and help to shed its rays, like a lamp, to others. We are not the Source of the light, but we may, in turn, become a reflection of it. Jesus turns once again here to themes of light in John's Gospel. Yesterday we were reminded of Matthew's Gospel, and the Sermon on the Mount, in which He taught that we must cast away the things that will destroy the whole body: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." And today we are also reminded of Jesus' words from that Sermon: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Today's question, then, is how do you reflect that light in the world? How do you cast Christ's light into the world through yourself? Let us consider light and darkness -- and the constant tension between the victory won in exaltation on the Cross, and that which is yet to be won in each of us.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him, and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Luke 14:1-11

In yesterday's reading, we were told that some Pharisees came to Jesus and warned Him that Herod seeks to kill Him. Herod is the ruler of Galilee. Jesus says that He must go to Jerusalem - even though He fears nothing from Herod, whom He calls "that fox" - because "it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem." He then mourns the City, which has refused repeatedly its messengers (the prophets) and now will not take refuge and be gathered together under His wings, as a hen gathers her brood. See O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. My study bible says here: "The Pharisees again exemplify a paradoxical, cunning combination of interest and suspicion. They receive Jesus for a meal and yet watch to catch Him as a lawbreaker." The Pharisees play an interesting role: they are repeatedly called "hypocrites" (originally meaning "actors" in the Greek) by Jesus. They are not straightforward, not humble, not honest.

And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" And they could not answer Him regarding these things. This is an interesting "doubling" in Luke, similar to something that we see repeatedly in the Gospel of Matthew. This is a repeated lesson, which we've just read in the previous chapter (see Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.) In that case, it was a woman stooped over from an 18-year affliction. In this case it is a man with dropsy, or an accumulation of water or liquids, which would swell parts of his body. This man may be a "plant" with which to tempt Jesus in order to trap Him. As with the stooped-over woman, the man with dropsy is "burdened" - this time with an accumulation of fluid which his body cannot process and eject. It is another metaphor for the nature of evil, from which Jesus "looses" the man as from a bond. (Jesus likens today's "bondage" to a pit, from which the man is set free). In doing so, He once again exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees - which we note again covers an aspect of greed. They would do the same for a valuable animal on the Sabbath. As in the previous incident, they cannot answer Him.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him, and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." My study bible notes here: "This parable of good manners, found only in Luke, contrasts the virtue of humility with the vice of self-exaltation. Compare James 4:6: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" Obviously, this parable refers the Pharisees to themselves - questioning the Teacher. Jesus has just lamented (in yesterday's reading) that the religious leadership will not listen to Him, just as they have not listened to the prophets before Him. So, here, this parable of good manners, as my study bible refers to it, teaches them about learning. Humility is something we must have before God, and by extension, before those who would teach us something of God, who are here to do so. Like the prophets before Him, Jesus has a mission, something to teach - and like the prophets before Him, it is arrogance, pride, lack of humility, that gets in the way of listening. I find it touching and lovely that our notions of good manners, of what we now call "gracious" behavior, comes from this parable. It is at once quite literally pragmatic, and enormously spiritual: we need such humility to open to us the mysteries of God. And, of course, it is also a teaching of what is to come - the grace of the Holy Spirit, and where it will rest, even in the fullness of judgment.

I quite think the whole notion of humility is enormously exploited in our world. Too often, authority figures will use this tremendous example of the exaltation of humility simply in order to exalt themselves - in the same manner as the hypocrisy of the Pharisees Jesus always criticizes. Authority in any worldly sense, in and of itself, does not guarantee justice or righteousness, and this is an important lesson for anyone in a nominal position of authority. Humility is not an attitude of servility. It is, quite the opposite, an attitude of humbling oneself before God - a way of keeping oneself as thoroughly honest as possible, open and ready to learn, and ready to repent and change the things in ourselves that need undoing. It is the queen of the virtues, and one which I find I need to learn over and over again in so many ways. But it is that which leads us to grace, and indeed, hopefully, to gracious and loving behavior toward one another. Can you do it? Our worldly lives make it so difficult to learn, to undo our exaltation - for so many reasons - of ourselves. The question is: who are we in the eyes of God? Who does God teach us to be? This is the authentic spiritual self, with true gold and radiant light, we seek to be. Can you do it? Can you pray for this? Remember His words. Arrogance - a lack of ability to go before God for direction, even to the depths of what we cherish - is another burden or affliction of evil in the world, perhaps its most powerful legacy. It leads to the hypocrisy exemplified in the Pharisees. It is here, in Jesus' words about the importance of humility, that we begin to undo that burden in us. This is the definition of spiritual battle.