Throughout Jesus’ teaching and engagement with His disciples, He used the metaphor of light. Over and over, He painted the picture—humanity stumbling in darkness, blind to the truth, while He stood as the world’s shining light. You could almost hear Him saying, “Stay with Me, and you will stay in the light.” It wasn’t just poetry; it was a promise. The safest place to be? Right there with Him.
But now, in John 12, the air feels heavier. The weight of what’s coming presses in just days from the cross. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead—an undeniable miracle that even skeptics couldn’t shrug it off. Crowds buzzed, faith sparked, and in Jerusalem, even some of the religious elite began to believe. The problem? Were they willing to come to the Light?
John 12:42-43 “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; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”
Ouch. They believed—but silently. Confessing Jesus meant losing their status, their community, maybe even their livelihoods. John doesn’t mince words: they craved human applause more than God’s approval. It’s a gut punch of a diagnosis—then and now.
And it’s right here, in this tangle of half-hearted faith:
John 12:44-46 “Then Jesus cried out, ‘When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.’”
That shout—it’s not a whisper or a casual chat. It’s a cry, raw and urgent, like a man pleading with sleepwalkers to wake up before they tumble off a cliff. Why the intensity? Time’s running out. The cross looms, and Jesus knows it. He’s not just offering light; He’s begging them to grab it. “See Me!” He cries. “See the Father in Me! Don’t stay in the dark when I’m right here!”
Then He doubles down:
John 12:47-50 “If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save it. He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me.”
This is Jesus laying it all bare. He’s the Light, piercing the darkness of a world obsessed with itself. But the leaders? They’re hiding, clutching their status over salvation. His cry isn’t anger—it’s love, fueled by the Father’s command, offering eternal life before judgment crashes down. The clock’s ticking. Stay in the dark, and His words will judge them later. Step into the Light, and they’re saved—forever.
Jesus invites us to come to the Light, and place our faith in Him. To step out of the darkness, this is an act of faith, but it brings us eternal life.
