Sons of Light

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SONS OF LIGHT

John 12:27-36

27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. 34 The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?" 35 Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

NIV

Jesus has said a lot within this short exchange with the people. Was Jesus really troubled in his heart? Again, we believe everything Jesus says is a teaching moment. Here we can learn that when are heart becomes troubled there is one response we should consider. Whatever the reason for our troubled heart, should we say, “Lord, save us from this hour”? Of course, in the situation Jesus is headed to, it was the very reason he came to earth. But how can we say one situation or another is not why we are in it. That is to say when we have a troubled heart over something we are going to be facing, maybe we need to see that God is doing a work in our lives to build our faith, or use us for the benefit of someone, or in the case of Jesus, our situation would bring glory to God. In this narrative, right after Jesus spoke, a voice from heaven speaks. The Father responses to Jesus, his Son. This is the second time the Father has spoken audibly from heaven. It is interesting the mixed response of the crowd to the voice of God. Maybe that is the same today. Some people did not hear a voice, but only heard thunder, while others heard the voice, but thought it was the voice of an angel. How often do we miss, or mistake the voice of God? Maybe some people have never heard him speak at all, but we know he has spoken to us in the past, and expect he will speak again. But we have to be listening, or we might mistake his voice for something else. Jesus made sure the voice of God was not for his benefit, but for the benefit of the crowd. He continued to explain what he was going to endure, again for their benefit. It would seem right to think, although God is almighty and has no need of anything, what he did in the past, and in the present and on into our future is for our benefit. All of creation is for our benefit, Jesus coming to show us the way, is for our benefit. Jesus is the light of the world, is for our benefit. Jesus is the truth, is for our benefit. His dying on the cross was for our benefit and his resurrection was for our benefit. We have the pattern for our life, we have the truth to live by and the truth to die by. There is no longer any need for us to walk in the dark, not being able to see the truth. We walk in the light of Jesus. We trust in the light. We are sons of the light.