While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light

 

 "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 our current readings, it is now Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  He has come to Jerusalem to attend the Passover.  He has been anointed with oil, saved for the day of His burial, by Mary the sister of Lazarus; and He has made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Yesterday we read that there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  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 this 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 know the troubled nature of Christ's soul, showing His full humanity in that His approaching death disturbs Him (see Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:41-44).  But regardless, Jesus unites His will to the Father. Christ's purpose is more important than His natural human fears.   My study Bible explains that the Father's name is an extension of His Person. The Son's death, it says, completes the purpose of the Father and shows His love for all, thus glorifying Him.  Here Jesus is effectively saying, "Father, lead Me to the Cross."  My study Bible calls this the Lord's divine response to the human prompting to avoid the Cross. 

 

 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."  The Father's response ("I have both glorified it and will glorify it again") refers to the signs already performed by Christ and to the death and Resurrection to come. Although the Father spoke clearly, my study Bible says, some people heard indistinct sounds like thunder because they lacked faith.  It notes that those with a little faith heard the words but did not know the source, thinking it was an angel.  But the disciples knew that the Father Himself had spoken (it is the disciples to whom Jesus address the words "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.  Here is the heart of the matter; Christ's death on the Cross will defeat the devil, the ruler of this world.    Lifted up is yet again a reference to Christ being hung on the Cross (see also John 3:14-15; 8:28).  This death will bring salvation to all people, and at the same time will render judgment on the faithless, and destroy once for all the power of Satan.  

 

  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.  My study Bible explains that the light refers to Christ (John 1:4-9; 8:12).  Moreover, it says, this teaching has several facets of meaning.  In the first place, He will soon be completing His public ministry.  Additionally, our own lives are very limited.  We have a short time to repent and believe in Christ before our own deaths.  Finally, Christ's return, the Second Coming, is but a little while when compared to eternity.  

 

 Jesus says, "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."   This illustrates a very important point, central to the understanding of Orthodoxy, that we are, in fact, saved through this process Jesus expresses.  That is, that we may become sons of light.  This is another way to speak of becoming God's children by adoption.  To become a son of light in this context is to become a child of Christ, one of those of the Body of Christ, whom He calls to be with Him (John 14:3).  What Jesus says here, to walk with the light, believing in the light, that we may become sons of light, is an illustration of what is called theosis.  We live our lives walking with the light, guided by the light, and so we become more "like" the light; thus, sons of light.  This stands as a principle, for walking in the darkness does the opposite.  It not only takes us away from the light, but we become more "like" the darkness, if that is where we ally ourselves.  This understanding conveys the concept of "energies."  We cannot participate in God's essence, but God's energies, God's mercy and grace, enter into our world and ask for our participation with them.  Thereby, how we live, what we do, in this sense builds who we are.  This is a fulfillment of what is taught to us in Genesis 1:26, that we are made in God's image and likeness.  Through this saving grace of Christ, His light, we may grow in that likeness, thereby becoming sons of light.  But note the juxtaposition of judgment here, which goes hand in hand with Christ's offering of salvation for the world.  If we participate in the works of darkness, so we grow in that likeness also.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches this quite starkly: "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:22-24).  Let us note also that being a "son of light" does not mean perfection in a final, finished sense, but is rather a movement that leads us closer to God as a lifelong journey, a direction.  As human beings, this journey will entail struggle, referred to as "spiritual battle."  In today's reading, Jesus expresses the natural fear of death common to all human beings, and which creates a type of internal conflict.  But He chooses His purpose, allying His will with the Father, the very purpose of salvation for the life of the world.  C. S. Lewis writes poignantly in his book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe expressing what this means for each of us. The book may be aimed at children, but nonetheless it applies to all (and I would highly recommend the book for all ages).   In it, a young man is taught that courage is not being without fear, but that courage is having fear and doing what one must do to walk in the light anyway.  This Christ teaches us as well in today's reading.  Christ's rebuke of St. Peter upon the occasion of St. Peter's protest that Jesus should not die is also a strong reminder of this principle (see Matthew 16:21-24).  So let us remember what it is to walk in the light, and how important it is -- for the whole of who we are depends upon just this.