Walking in the Light

BY Jen Yokel

Section 2: People of the Light

Most of us rarely find ourselves navigating in total darkness. There are always the small lights to guide us where we need to go, even if it’s just the tiny flashlight on our phones, and when we do find ourselves dodging furniture on a midnight trip to the refrigerator, the familiarity we’ve walked in the daytime helps us make our way without getting lost. Even in the darkest winter nights, we don’t need someone to drag us around and shout directions. We have become so familiar with the terrain that we can safely navigate without fear.

This feels true in our everyday lives too. In today’s reading, we see Jesus teaching something a little different than how we often think of the Christian life—keep these rules, do these steps, check these boxes. Most of the time, following Him is less like taking orders and more like making our way with Jesus in the dark.

From the start of His ministry, Jesus made it clear that His role wasn’t what the Jewish people expected. He didn’t come as a conquering king to overthrow Rome. Instead, He spoke of being lifted up—the literal type of death He would die—in order to draw all people to Himself and to God. For so long, His followers assumed that the Messiah would come and reign among them, but when they press Him on the issue, He answers, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you…become children of light” (John 12:35–36).

Instead of a conquering king, He points them to light. And light shows us reality—every clear path, every obstacle. Light, sometimes, is just enough to see by, like the beam of a flashlight cutting through the winter gloom.

When Jesus invites us to become children of light, He invites us to sacrificial love and humility. It means loving our brothers and sisters, because God is love and God is light and “the true light is already shining” (1John 2:8). It means seeking deep familiarity with the reality we’ve been shown, and living as “a people for his possession, so that [we] may proclaim the praises of the one who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1Peter 2:9).

And when we walk as Jesus walked, we can re-enter the darkness without fear. Even there, the light still shines.