Reason, Season, Lifetime, and Eternal Light (Lent 31, 2017)

You may have heard the quote “We have three types of friends in life: Friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for a lifetime.” 

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Jesus came for more than that. 

He came as the reason,

for a season on earth,

so that we could see God during Jesus’ lifetime,

and be with Him for eternity.

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Jesus had resolutely set out for Jerusalem knowing the Cross was ahead of Him.  It was the reason He came.

John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. 37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn– and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Jesus came as a light, the Light of the World, so that the light would be for more than a season, it would be for a reason and we could enjoy the light of His grace and forgiveness eternally.

Fun Fact of Light:  Fireflies make their own light during their short season of life and give us a signal of summer.  In Scientific American ” Marc Branham, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains.

Fireflies produce a chemical reaction inside their bodies that allows them to light up. This type of light production is called bioluminescence. The method by which fireflies produce light is perhaps the best known example of bioluminescence. When oxygen combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the chemical luciferin in the presence of luciferase, a bioluminescent enzyme, light is produced. Unlike a light bulb, which produces a lot of heat in addition to light, a firefly’s light is ‘cold light,’ without a lot of energy being lost as heat. This is necessary because if a firefly’s light-producing organ got as hot as a light bulb, the firefly would not survive the experience.

A firefly controls the beginning and end of the chemical reaction, and thus the start and stop of its light emission, by adding oxygen to the other chemicals needed to produce light…

Fireflies appear to light up for a variety of reasons … Larvae use their glows as warning displays to communicate their distastefulness. As adults, many fireflies have flash patterns unique to their species and use them to identify other members of their species as well as to discriminate between members of the opposite sex. Several studies have shown that female fireflies choose mates depending upon specific male flash pattern characteristics.

For Further Thought:

Does your Jesus have nail scars?  Or when you visualize Him, are you more likely to see His face and not intentionally see the evidence of His season of suffering here on earth? 

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming, for Your incarnation, the Word becoming human flesh for the reason of being the Light of the World for a season so that we might be saved and enjoy Your presence, not just for a lifetime, but for eternity.  Amen.