Lesson 15 Jesus the Light of the World 1) The first thing God created was light.

Let there be light and there was Light (Gen 1/3. see Lesson 1, No.1). Light is the life giving and life sustaining power in the universe. Without the power of the light the whole universe will disintegrate and life will come to a standstill. Jesus is the light (Jn 8/12) that shines on the new world that he has ushered in. he is the light that reveals salvation to the world (gentiles) and brings glory to Israel, the people of God (Lk 2/32). The role of lumen gentium (light of the world) in salvation history is revealing. In Is 42/7, 46/13 and 49/6, the suffering Servant of God was raised to the dignity Light of the World (Lumen Gentium). The NT understands Jesus as the light of the universe both the Jews and the Gentiles receiving enlightenment from Jesus. Being the continuation of Christ, the church plays the same role of being the light of the world. Vat II names the church as the Lumen Gentium.

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With the incarnation, salvation history is fully guided by the light shed by Jesus on all aspects of life particularly on the nature of Gods relation to man and that of men to God, and the inter personal relationship between men. Jesus revealed not his father not as el-shadai (Gen 17/1-2) - God of the mountains a God far removed from the people, not as a Yahweh Sabbaoth God of the armies, but as the father of the Prodigal son, not a harsh judge or demanding father not a remote logos, but as the kenotic Christ who now sits at the right hand of God the father, offering him his own eternal sacrificial worship, as the praying, caring, merciful Lord. The light of Jesus shed on human life guides all people of all times, to achieve the destiny which is ultimately their salvation in Christ, and through them that of all creation. Jesus the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus the way. Jesus illumes the way that a Christian should walk your word is the light to my feet. He taught us the Christian way which is totally different from the ways followed in any other religion. He taught the Christian way by the parables, by his teachings, and particularly by the Sermon on the Mount. With these Jesus brought in a total revolution in the ways of religion. He not only taught the Christian way, but walked himself on that way (e.g, love your enemies in the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus prayed for his enemies on the cross). Jesus the truth. Truth is only one and that is the truth of God. Jesus manifested the truth of Gods relationship to man and that of man to God. All other single truths are subservient and related to this universal truth. This truth of mutual God-man relationship was totally and ontologically denied in Paradise by

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which mans identity was falsified. Man wanted to become what he could not. He easily reached out to things that he should not have had. Jesus is life. The truth about man is that it is God who blew life into the nostrils of man (Gen 2/7). This is what modern man is so reluctant to accept in his daily life that Gods is his jeevashwasam. Jesus is the author of his life at the first moment of his life and equally the author of his renewed life at his resurrection. Jesus declared this to Martha I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11/25). Resurrected life is the highest form of human life. In his description of the WORD (logos) John makes everything that came to this world finds its meaning for life in Christ only (Jn1/4). Being the way, truth and life for men Jesus converges into the Indian vision of a guru. Guru is the one who shows the right way to the authentic life, to the sanadana dharma. 5) The symbolism of light is extensively used by John to explain the true nature of Jesus. If Jesus is the light of the world his disciples receive the illumination from this light and become themselves the light of the world. This transforming power is what every Christian is called to become when Jesus said you are the light of the world (Mt 5/14). This transformation is the gift that any Christian who fully turns towards the great light that enlightens every man who comes into this world (Jn 1/9).