Illuminating Children

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.  He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.  There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:6-13 NASB)

In this passage the Light emerges to front center stage.  The Light is in the world yet misunderstood by the world; among His own yet rejected by His own; received by others who are then reborn by God Himself.  As if that were not enough to wade through, there is this illumination problem.  Either the True Light which illuminates every person is coming into the world; or this is the True Light which illuminates every person coming into the world.  This may seem like a semantic problem, but on the surface it could be seen to support an unorthodox belief.  In either translation, the True Light illuminates every person.  One implies potential illumination, the other actual illumination.  It is a matter of implied universalism.  Are all people illuminated, and therefore saved (universalism)?  Or do all people have the potential to be illuminated and therefore can be saved?

I think the context really argues against any sort of universalism since the rejection and ignorance is contrasted against the reception by those who become born of God.  So, really, I’m not bothered by either translation, nor am I bothered by some sense of universal illumination of God’s human creatures.  I think it works really well with the beginning of Romans where Paul claims that all people are without excuse for rejecting God.  While Paul points to a natural revelation, this common internal illumination works as well.  If the True Light illuminates everyone who comes into the world, then everyone is without excuse for rejecting or being ignorant of Him.  They reject or are ignorant of their own illumination by the divine Light.

Interpretations of possible translations aside, this selection of verses illuminate an amazing picture of my Master for me.  The first element to this beautiful image is the condescension of my Master to enter His own creation.  In Philippians, Paul says that He empties Himself to do it.  Here I see Him intentionally take on the scorn and apathy of His human creatures.  So, not only did He need to set aside the glory He had with the Father from before the foundations of the cosmos, He also has to endure little or no recognition, no thanks, from those He has come to save.  He is in His creation and it didn’t recognize Him.  He was among His own chosen people, and they rejected Him.  And yet He came.  He doesn’t leave in an offended huff, and stomp back off to heaven, obliterating all life on earth as He goes.   How unlike me He is here.  He is foreign, strange, and wonderful.

And then this Character of ironic mistreatment does the next most amazing thing.  He gives to those who do receive Him this right or authority to become born of God.  This is amazing, not only because it clearly not from anything human, but also because it is so much more than adoption.  Here the adoption is done through rebirth, even more than regeneration, perhaps more than transformation, those who received the Illuminating Word are given the power to be born of God.  The irony is driven by the opportunity cost paid by the ones apathetic and rejecting Him outright.  What could they have possibly gained through their rejection that could in any way compare to what they would have gained?  It’s crazy, they are crazy, and yet they, and often I, consider John and the Master of the universe crazy.  It is a sad irony full of death and evil.

I have been given the power to become born of the Creator of the universe.  I have been given this by the Creator Himself, by His choice, for receiving the Illuminating Light having come from beside Him.  It is the single most amazing thing about my life.  Everything else is mundane and common.  The only remarkable thing about me is my rebirth by my Master.  It comes not from my will, nor from my desires, but from my Master.  It is a gift He chooses to give.  My only claim to it is that it comes as I receive His divine Illuminating Word, Jesus.  I simply receive, and He keeps on giving.  I am overwhelmed by more than my senses can process, than my imagination can reach, and more than my reason can explain.  My only response is to let it wash over and through me, to submit to my Master’s work.  I can only let Him illuminate my soul with Himself.  I shatter in the process, but from the shards is formed a better creation.  Sure it hurts, but it also heals.