DARKNESS CANNOT OVERCOME
Opening Prayer
Lord, give me a greater hunger for you and your Word. Give me a heart that desires you above all else.
Read LUKE 11:29-36
The Sign of Jonah
29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.
The Lamp of the Body
33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,[b] your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Footnotes
- Luke 11:34 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.
- Luke 11:34 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Good is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death. Victory is ours, through him who loves us.’1
We still follow the conversation after Jesus healed the mute man. Jesus’ adversaries, who had labeled the healing satanic, were silenced. The curious crowd asked for another ‘sign’ (v 29), but what they wanted was entertainment, tempting Jesus to perform a magic trick. Although they did not know it, three long years earlier, hungry and isolated in the desert, Jesus had resisted that same temptation, refusing to turn stone into bread, rejecting forever the temptation to use his divine power for his own good or to impress others. No wonder Jesus’ response has a hint of anger. He will not resort to showmanship. The only sign they will get is the ‘sign of Jonah.’ The Gentiles of Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching. Jesus’ preaching, by word and action, would be the only sign given to this Jewish generation, a clear sign to those whose minds were not darkened.
Jesus’ sayings about light may seem disconnected. Some scholars wonder if Luke put them there for want of a better place. Perhaps Jesus did say these things elsewhere, but Luke is telling us something by his placement. The good news of the kingdom of God must not be hidden. If the kingdom of God is within us, we radiate its light. This was a powerful metaphor. Luke was a physician at a time when it was thought that our eyes emitted light and that we could see when that light met the light outside us. Those out of whose eyes shines the light of the kingdom of God are spiritually healthy, but the darkened eye indicates inner darkness, under the control of the evil forces of darkness. We whose eyes see and reflect the kingdom of God have the promise: the light which entered the world with Jesus shines in the darkness and the evil forces of darkness can never overpower it.2
Apply
May the Lord of the light fill our whole beings with the light of the kingdom of God, that we may reflect that light into the darkness of the world.
Closing prayer
O Lord, my God, thank you for bringing light into my darkness. Help me to shine that light so that others might see you.
1 Bishop Desmond Tutu, 1931-2021 2 see John 1:5
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