Let Your Light Shine Before Others

The prologue to the Gospel of John proclaims

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:1–5)

The "Word" is a translation of the Greek word logos, the concept that the divine reason permeates all reality, giving it order, form, and meaning. ¹ Philo, a first-century Jewish philosopher and theologian, "taught that the logos was the intermediary between God and the cosmos, being both the agent of creation and the agent through which the human mind can apprehend and comprehend God....the logos was both immanent in the world and at the same time the transcendent divine mind."².

Christianity understands the "Word" to be the second person of the Trinity. The "Word" existed from the beginning, before creation, throughout creation and salvation history, and was incarnated about two thousand years ago in Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed as being both "fully human" and "fully divine." Through Jesus the "Word" becomes the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) and the human face of God for us.

Jesus is "the light of the world" (John 8:12), who reveals to us God the Father, his will, and way that leads to experiencing abundant life now and eternal life beyond (John 10:10; 28). As the "Word," Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Jesus promises "Whoever follows [him] will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The darkness to which Jesus refers symbolizes sin or alienation from God, the absence, diminishment, or distortion of faith in God or God's love, truth, goodness, or beauty, and the refusal or failure to receive, accept, or follow the light of Christ.

Jesus exhorts us to be the "light of Christ" for others. "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father" (Matthew 5:16). We do this through faith and trust in God, discerning and surrendering to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in prayer to guide and empower us to be and act according to God's will, proclaiming God's truth, and through acts of humble self-surrender, love, hope, gratitude, peace, justice, compassion, forgivness, healing, kindness, simplicity, generosity, and selfless service to the needs of others.

Take time to reflect on when you have experienced the "light of Christ" in your life. What times in your life have you avoided the light of Christ and lived in "darkness"? Are you allowing the "light of Christ" to shine through you to others? If not, what is preventing you from doing this?

1 See Britannica article "Logos" at https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos (accessed July 5, 2024).
2 Id.