“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:9–13
In verse 11, John writes that even his own did not receive Christ when he came into the world. This rejection is shocking. We have been somewhat prepared for it by the idea that the darkness would try to overcome the light (and fail utterly) and by the sending of John to prepare people for the light (vv. 5–8). Yet it is still shocking.
It is shocking because Jesus is the true light (v. 9). The is nothing false or dark in him; no hint of a hidden agenda, no suggestion of selfish greed. It is shocking because he gives light to everyone (v. 9). We only live because he has given us life. Even our pursuit of darkness is only possible because Jesus gives us the breath to do it. Why does he allow us to persist in our sin? So often we turn from him in selfish, self-centred misery.
It is sadly not shocking that when the true light came into the world that he made, he came unknown and unnoticed (v. 10). It is not shocking to us because we are just the same. We rush on with our lives, towards the next holiday, weekend, work deadline, box set, even to mindless scrolling. We prefer to bury our heads in darkness than come to Jesus as our Light.
Even “his own … did not receive him” (v. 11). He was despised and rejected. A king tried to kill him at his birth; his high priest and the scribes of the law he wrote would send him to his death.
But the greatest shock is in verse 12. He did not come to confront his enemies. He came to save them. To save us.
There are those who do receive him. There are people across the world who see the Light and find the desires of their heart met. There are those who recognise the beauty, goodness, love, and life of the Light of the world. And he receives us. When he should shun and shame us, he welcomes and embraces us.
He gives us a new life. We are born again (v. 13) into the light. This is God’s will. It does not rest on some strength in ourselves. Those of us who love the Light are not better, no wiser nor more holy. We are children of darkness who are welcomed by the Prince of Light. And so we are born afresh, new eyes blinking in wonder as we stagger into the light of love. The warmth of Christ’s smile of welcome washes over us, and we bask as the glorious radiance of his majesty chases away the remnants of darkness from our souls.
Of course, it feels far more ordinary, far harder and slower. Day by day, we feel like we are struggling to hold onto Jesus. But he has received us. We have been born again into the light. And one day we will walk in that kingdom of eternal light with the darkness finally gone and our hearts finally home.
Part 1: The Brilliance of the Light
Part 2: The Witness to the Light
Part 3: The People of the Light
