More than Friday Night Lights

“In (Jesus) was life and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.”  (John 1:4-5).

We are between two great celebrations. The recent Independence Day celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday. And the upcoming Salt Bowl will once again celebrate all that is good about Saline County.

For the first time ever, Hooten’s Arkansas Football has both the Bryant Hornets and Benton Panthers respectively ranked #1 in their preseason poll. The Hornets, winners of seven of the past eight Class 7-A state championships, are ranked #1 in Class 7-A while the Panthers, looking to reach the state title game for the first time since 2019, are ranked #1 in Class 6-A. All eyes statewide will focus on the color, pageantry, and game beneath the Friday night lights at Hornet Stadium.

But there is another celebration that reaches far back beyond the birth of our nation and will stretch forward into eternity, and that is the celebration of Jesus, the Light of the World.

When the Apostle John wrote his good news story of Christ, he began with a striking summary of Jesus. We’d find it hard, if not impossible, to capture the essence of who Jesus was and is, but John did with these words: “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

Full of grace and truth…

Read John’s Gospel and you find that fullness of grace (that doesn’t condemn sinners) and truth (that condemns sin) on display. And John presents it by emphasizing some unbelievable claims Jesus made. But each unbelievable claim Jesus backed up with undeniable proof.

Here’s one example. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

In the very next chapter (John 9), Jesus meets a man who’d been born blind. In a rare, odd, unique manner, Jesus makes mud, puts it on the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. And when he did as Jesus said, he came home seeing (John 9:6-7, 11).

If we could ask that man born blind to whom Jesus gave sight, “Sir, what do you think of Jesus’s claim to be the light of the world?” I’m certain his response would be, “Absolutely he is! He is the light of my world! I was blind, but now I see!”

That is just one of several examples in John’s Gospel where Jesus makes an unbelievable claim and backs it up with undeniable proof. These claims and proofs combined convince me that Jesus was who he said he was: the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

This year at the Salt Bowl, take a moment under the Friday Night lights to pause amid the celebration of Saline County and offer gratitude to God for sending Jesus to be the Light of the World. His coming, his sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world, and the light of life that he makes available to everyone who believes and receives his offer of grace, are the greatest causes for celebration.