“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”
John 1:9
Before Jesus could ever ascend to heaven, it goes without saying that He first of all had to descend to earth. It was in this darkened world that His incarnation lit up the cosmos forever. Since His return to heaven, Jesus has never stopped giving gifts to people, and then giving these people as gifts to us, as ‘lesser’ light bearers shining briefly among us, igniting in us a flame that will not go out.
I write these words thinking not only of a special light bearer and friend, Larry Donaldson, who ‘ascended’ from among us on Sunday 17th December 2023, but of his dear wife Fiona, and also more widely of all whose loved ones now “shine like the stars forever.” (Daniel 12:3)
The darkest winter days may now be lit up by Christmas neons at every turn, but as we look much higher to the True Light who drowns them all out, I also find myself turning my eyes to another remarkable – even if lesser – light alluded to in the incarnation story: John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was not the Light, John tells us, but “the one sent to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.” (John 1:7)
Is there a better moment than now to thank God for our own ‘lesser lights’, sent by God to make a way for Jesus in our lives, to serve the True Light by pointing us to Him, speaking Jesus’ purposes into, and over, our lives?
Dear friends. Special ones. Unfading influences.
The kind of people we barely need encouragement to take time to thank God for. They have been God’s heavenly endowments to us, and we can only express gratitude for the treasures they have faithfully and beautifully deposited in us.
In Matthew chapter 11, there’s a touching moment in the ministry of Jesus, where He pauses to talk about John the Baptist in his absence …
John, from his prison cell, had sent his disciples to Jesus with a serious question concerning His identity. Jesus responded respectfully and clearly with a straight, no-barbs answer, not a hint of the Oh-ye-of-little-faith reprimand that the twelve would grow accustomed to! No, Jesus’ heart overflowed with honour for John.
‘Do you realise who you had among you?’, Jesus seemed to be asking. ‘If you realised this man was no lightweight, no quack, you might begin to understand the extraordinary things he prophesied about what some of you are to become.’
Perhaps Jesus saw John’s moment of distress in Herod’s jail as a foreshadowing of the great struggle He Himself would internally navigate in the lead-up to His own hour of testing, of which He spoke elsewhere: “… I have a baptism to undergo, and how troubled I am until it is accomplished.” (Luke 12:50).
From the womb up, John was Jesus’ cousin, friend, and prophesied ministry partner. They were probably never far from each other’s minds. We don’t know what was going on inside Jesus, but His thoughts must surely have been frequent and strong. On the first report to Jesus of John’s imprisonment (Matthew 4:12), and then on the report to Jesus of John’s barbarous execution exactly ten chapters later (Matthew 14:12), we simply read, “… [Jesus] withdrew.”
I don’t think it’s stretching things to conclude that Jesus reflected very deeply in these time-outs. Okay, I’m just imagining, and I know it’s never smart to read my personality into Jesus’ responses, but could it have been that, in these moments, Jesus was not only moved by the influence of His friend’s life, but stirred again by the prophetic words John had spoken over Him and regarding His mission?
Whatever the substance of Jesus’ thoughts and His private conversation with the Father, we do know what happened afterwards. Immediately following the Matthew 4 withdrawal, “a people living in darkness” (Matthew 4:16) saw an explosion of the light of truth, as Jesus began preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17) … Hmmm! Hadn’t someone else been preaching that one?
Then, straight after Jesus’ second withdrawal in Matthew 14, before the chapter’s out we see an explosion of the light of miracles, from the feeding of the 5,000 to Simon Peter joining Jesus on the waves … Indeed, “… on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16)
I challenge anyone reading this, to rebel against the hustle and frenzy of the sillier aspects of the Christmas season, not to speed up, but to slow down.
No. Stop!
As you ‘withdraw’, thank God for the ‘lesser lights’, the John the Baptists in your life.
- Ask: Father, what goodness in them do I carry too?
- Reflect on the words these gifted ones spoke into and over you, perhaps even the gifts imparted to you through them, and ask: Father, what are we to do with these?
If you sit still long enough, come January the True Light may just shine through you as never before.
Alistair Matheson, Glasgow City Church
Ascension Forum 