John 1:6-10 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.8 He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
We are in the midst of Holy Week, the days between Palm Sunday with Jesus’s triumphal entry and Good Friday with Jesus’s crucifixion. These seven days are a picture of how quickly people can be swayed by worldly powers. It is the week in which everyone’s opinion of Jesus changed because he didn’t act the way we pictured a savior would act. He didn’t fit into the box we wanted him to live in.
Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. This is something the people who celebrated his arrival had heard about. Here comes Jesus the man who healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, and he came to solve all my problems. These people fell into a trap we can all fall into on occasion. They wanted “vending-machine Jesus”. I gave him my time, my money, and my faith so now he owes me something!
Hopefully, we all bristle at the thought of our faith being so transactional, but therein lies the danger. We would never define it this way to others, but we do sometimes act like we deserve better because of something we’ve done.
We don’t. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Thankfully, we have a savior who came knowing that we were sinners in need of saving and he willingly sacrificed himself on the cross for us anyway. The Romans didn’t kill Jesus. The Jews didn’t kill Jesus. It was my sin and your sin that yelled “CRUCIFY!” louder than the mob that day.
As witness to the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, we have been called to share the good news that we now know with those that don’t know it. We are not the light, but we’ve seen it and we can show it to a world that needs it.