Words of Life: An Enduring Legacyনমুনা

Legacy of light: seeing Jesus.

Bleary-eyed after a night flight, I stood at passport control at London’s Heathrow Airport, trying to plead my case. ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ the border-force agent said, ‘but we can’t verify your identity from this passport alone.’ Clearly, I hadn’t aged well in the nine years since my passport was issued! Now I found myself in a moment of panic – my identity in question. It was an incredibly frustrating experience: trying to prove who I was to airport officials when my passport photo no longer matched the face before them.

The question of ‘who is Jesus?’ runs throughout John’s Gospel. Many people question his identity – they saw him with their own eyes, teaching and performing miraculous signs, yet they failed to recognise him as the Messiah. This tension is introduced right from the prologue, where John explains that John the Baptist was sent to bear witness to the true light – the one who illumines the whole world – but when the true light came, people simply didn’t discern it. Again and again in John’s Gospel, people see Jesus, but they don’t recognise him for who he is. We can almost feel the frustration building throughout its pages, reaching a climax in John 12:37 (NIV): ‘Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.’

One of the most important legacies we are called to leave is a clear and compelling picture of who Jesus is for future generations. It’s high-stakes. In some parts of the world, Salvationists live in cultures that are increasingly sceptical about Jesus’ true identity, failing to recognise him as Saviour and Lord. Our calling is to reflect a vibrant, unmistakable revelation of Christ – to reflect his light in technicolour for all to see. In the coming days, we’ll explore this ‘legacy of light’ that John compels us to consider as we contemplate who Jesus really is.

Who is Jesus to me, today? How might I share him with others?