“I am the light of the world”

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Meditation on Monday, 5th week of Lent, year B1

Today, most of us take photos digitally. Few are concerned with analog photography, where we use a film that is properly exposed when taking pictures. When you open your camera in the light and not in the darkroom, the entire film will be immediately overexposed and you will lose all your photos. This is how Jesus deals with our sins. During the day he takes the film out of our camera and says: “You know what, [your name], I can’t see anything there.”

The Gospel we read today tells us about forgiveness. When we turn to this particular passage (Jn 8: 1-11), we note that this story is as if pressed into the texts about living water and light (chapters 7 and 8).

Today we read in the Gospel: “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, but at dawn he appeared again in the temple.” Jesus went up the mountain to pray. He went upstairs right after the situation in the temple, where he exclaimed in a loud voice: “If anyone is thirsty and believes in me, let him come to me and drink. As the Scripture said, Streams of living water will flow from within him. ” The evangelist John continues: “And he said this of the Spirit, which those who believe in him are to receive; For the spirit has not yet been given. ”

Then, immediately after the situation with the woman caught in adultery, Jesus begins to teach, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. ”

During the day, Jesus takes the film out of your camera and says, “You know what, I can’t see anything there.” Jesus is light, that is, His light saves you from your sins, gives you eternal life. It is a light that will wash away your sins and bring you back to life. Every time you receive the forgiveness of your sins from Him – you are resurrected. You have His light within you.

Even if anyone has sinned, we have an Advocate for the Father – Jesus Christ the righteous (1 Jn 2: 1)

If we were to look at the original text, we would find the word Parakleton, that is, Guardian, Comforter. It is the same word found in John 14:16: “As for me, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.” Jesus is our Comforter, Protector. As foretold the prophet Isaiah, who intercedes for criminals (Is 53:12). So could he have acted differently against an adulterous woman?

Jesus does not condemn anyone and does not want anyone’s death. Therefore, he even jeopardizes his authority as a teacher or prophet. How a good shepherd leaves it all, all his reputation and goes looking for his lost sheep to save her.

Jesus was glorified on the cross, we were given a new Paraclete – the Holy Spirit. He will be with us until the end, until the fulfillment of times. Since our Defender and Comforter are with us, we should also stand up for our sisters and brothers. We are sometimes stricter than God. We are tempted to do justice in the name of God. But whoever is blameless among us, let him cast the stone first.

But let’s not stop at just not throwing a stone. It can be even better. The Apostle Paul teaches: Encourage one another and build one another up (according to the Poznan Bible and the Millennium Bible). In the translation of the publishing house of St. Paul’s phrase “refresh yourselves” was used:

Encourage one another and strengthen one another (1 Thess 5:11)

The verb “encourage” or “refresh yourselves” as used here means literally the same as “become paraclete.” When I found out about this, I rubbed my eyes in amazement, it surprised me completely as these words opened my thinking to a new perspective. On the action of the Holy Spirit in the church. Ba! Not only in the Church, in this Church that we see, but perhaps also in places where it seems that God does not exist, where God has forgotten someone. Each of us is to be a paraclete, a defender of those who are condemned and marginalized. We are also to protect those who condemn themselves to the margins, who have lost all hope.

A bishop at the beginning of his retreat in prison said, “The difference between you and me is that they haven’t caught me yet.”

Jesus forgives your sins and says to you, “Go and sin no more.” Go – does not mean: go away, take care of yourself somehow. Go, that is, tell everyone what the Lord has done for you: that he is good and merciful, that he has the power to forgive sins, that he gives eternal life, that he sends us his Spirit.