Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Today’s Reading  |  Luke 11:33–36   
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.” (NRSV)

Reflection
“He finally saw the light.” Implicit in that familiar statement are the questions “What took so long? How could he have missed it?”

Light is rather obvious, after all. Even the faintest flickering light stands out, is noticeable, in a dark space. Yet, we still don’t always see that which is right in front of us, all around us. In the passage preceding today’s text, Jesus notes that the people of his generation are looking for a sign and yet they miss the sign greater than all those that have gone before. The people of Nineveh repented upon hearing the message of Jonah, he says, and yet here, among the gathered crowd, is one who brings an even greater message—and the people do not see it.

That message is from one who fills all with light, a light that shines into every corner of life. Those seeking to focus solely on ritual cleansing, heeding sabbath legalities, and other proscriptions for particularities of life are overlooking, says Jesus, that life in God’s kingdom is not compartmentalized. It is about the light shining into every corner, illuminating and informing every thought and action.

Where are those parts of our lives where we have not let the light of life in God’s kingdom wash over all that we do and are, where we have let darkness linger? How might we today not only let that light shine forth to others but also completely fill us?

Prayer
“I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus.
In him there is no darkness at all. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus. Amen.

(from the hymn “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” by Kathleen Thomerson)

Reflection written by Ann Rehfeldt, Director of Communications

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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