August 8
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SONS OF LIGHT
27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose, I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. 34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”– John 12:27-36
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In this account, Jesus thinks aloud to the crowd. He exhibits his humanity when He claims that he is troubled because He exactly knows what is about to happen to Him. Yet, part of His deity knows that it is the reason why He came here on earth in the first place. When He uttered “Father, glorify your name”, he was directly speaking to God the Father and a voice from heaven spoke back saying “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” It was only Jesus who clearly heard what God said. The crowd only heard thunder. Once again, Jesus tells them that it was for them that God spoke. Jesus foreshadows what was going to happen to Him, how He will die soon. In verse 31, he declares victory over the ruler of the world. His purpose for coming down on earth was to defeat Satan and to bring back all men to His Father. The people were unable to understand all things Jesus was saying. Jesus calls Himself the Light in this conversation with them. He warns them that the Light is still among them. He advises them to enjoy His presence while He is still alive and believe in Him so that they may become sons of Light. In other words, if you believe in Jesus, you get a part of His light and become light for Him.
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REFLECTION
• How can we continue to shine for Jesus? How is faith important for one to be called sons of Light?