Words from the Rock
Whoever believes in me is really believing in the One who sent me. Whoever sees me sees the One who sent me. I have come as light into the world so that whoever believes in me would not stay in darkness.
John 12:44–46 NCV
Jesus has a short amount of earthly time left, and he really wants to drive some things home. Yes, he’s said things very similar to this before, but he knows his disciples (and everyone else) don’t always get the real meaning the first time they hear it. In fact, that’s why his disciples memorized his words, so they could keep them in their hearts and think on them later. Then they could share these life-giving words with others after Jesus was gone, and they could eventually write them down for future believers to hear and hopefully to memorize as well.
Again Jesus wants to make it crystal clear that when we believe in him, we believe in the Father. He and God are one. You can’t have one without the other. You love Jesus, you love God. You serve Jesus, you serve God. They go hand in hand—there’s no separating them. Jesus wants us to know that he’s connected to the Father, and we are connected as well because of him. Nothing stands between us and God.
In Jesus’s day, the religious leaders drove a wedge between people and God. They set up a legal barrier that made it difficult for people to know who he was. But Jesus tore down that barrier by saying, “You see me, you see God.” No more middleman.
Once again Jesus announces that he is the Light of the World, a light sent down from heaven to help us. When we’re linked with Jesus, we don’t live in darkness anymore. As a result, we have no reason to be stumbling around. If we do stumble, it might simply be a reminder that we’re not letting God’s light shine down on us as much as he’d like—as much as we need it to.
My Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for sending Jesus so I can have a relationship with you that will last forever. Thank you for your light. I welcome it into my life.
Amen.
Final Word
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38–39 NIV
Stone for the Journey
When I see Jesus, I see God.