Lent Devotional Day 19

Day 19
Sunday, March 12th

John 8:12-30
12 Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.” 14 Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. 18 I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.” 19 They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come. 21 Jesus continued, “I’m going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you can’t come.” 22 The Jewish leaders said, “He isn’t going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, ‘Where I’m going, you can’t come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I’m from above. You are from this world; I’m not from this world. 24 This is why I told you that you would die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” 25 “Who are you?” they asked. Jesus replied, “I’m exactly who I have claimed to be from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say in judgment concerning you. The one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

27 They didn’t know he was speaking about his Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When the Human One is lifted up, then you will know that I Am. Then you will know that I do nothing on my own, but I say just what the Father has taught me. 29 He who sent me is with me. He doesn’t leave me by myself, because I always do what makes him happy.” 30 While Jesus was saying these things, many people came to believe in him.

Reflection
Jesus says that God never left Him when He came down to earth. Jesus was a reflection of who God is. He proved to us how big God’s heart is and how much of a desire God has to be in a relationship with us. Jesus was the perfect example of who God wants us to strive to be. To follow Jesus is to walk in light even through dark times. Jesus says that He is the light of the world and whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness. I think this is such a beautiful thing to remember that even when life feels like you're walking through a never ending tunnel by yourself, when you look to Jesus you will always have a light to guide you. Jesus is the only true thing that can give you that. No one can just replace or fill in for Jesus in our lives. Jesus is the light of the world and the truth that guides us. Jesus shows us the truth even when it may be a hard pill to swallow. He guides us through light and truth, so we will know our Father. To know Jesus is to know God, and to know Jesus is to walk in light and truth, always.


By Kelsea Hansard