The world awaits new dawn after the devastating pandemic that claimed thousands of lives. The present generation just witnessed another dark age of history when hope turned to despair in every spectrum of life. The hope of resuming a normal life, free from fears and anxiety still remains a distant reality. Health and safety have become the utmost priority in the world. All scientific inventions, including space research, aims at making human life more comfortable and easier. However, several other vices, more dangerous than COVID-19 are lurking in human societies in different names and forms. Just as the virus is invisible, the destructive factors that thwart the meaning and purpose of humanity that the creator intended are submerged in the chaos of life. Postmodernity blurred the margin between good and evil. Consequently, truth is relative, and right and wrong is arbitrary. Therefore, moving from darkness to light is a matter of choice rather than a natural response. Jesus’ statement “loved darkness rather than light” resonates people’s choice of darkness over light during Jesus’ time. This spiritual paradox is the new normal of the present generation as well.

The theme of light and darkness is the most powerful dualism John used as a pedagogical tool in the Johannine corpus in order to get his message across to the Hellenistic audience. The dualism in the Gospel is predominantly in the vertical dimension indicating a Christology from ‘above’ essential for transforming an evil world ‘below’. John introduced the profound impact of light over darkness at the very outset of the Gospel as a programmatic statement in 1:4-13 where he presents Jesus as the “true light” that enlightens every human. However, he adds that neither the world nor his own people received this true light (John 1:10,11). John warns his audience that the true light is not too obvious to the world. Though Judaism was the visible means through which God dealt with the people, Jesus’ entry into the world set a new way to relate to God.

Thus, choosing the light is about following Jesus. The chief purpose of John’s Gospel was to make this transition from pleasing God (through practicing religion) to becoming a follower of Jesus who eventually become like him. While Jesus’s own rejected the light (John 1:10,11), others choose the light. Especially three characters portrayed in the Gospel received the true light outside the boundaries of the established religion: Nicodemus (3:1ff), the Samaritan women (4:1ff) and the blind man (9:1ff). They had their own needs – intellectual, cultural and physical while they were embedded in their own religious system. Yet they received the light outside the frontiers of religion. In a world where religion itself becomes a means of division, hatred, and bigotry; Jesus the true Light is the real hope. The gospel shows embracing Light is not practicing a tradition or a religious system but it is an influence that brings radical cleansing (John 13:10; 15:3; 17:17). May you choose this Light! Highlight: In a world of division, Jesus the true Light is the real hope.