John 1:6-13 – The Light revealed, rejected and received

In verses 6-8, we catch a glimpse of the mission of John the Baptist. In this Gospel, he was never referred to as the Baptist. Most of the facts we gathered concerning his life actually came from the other three Gospels. But in John’s Gospel we are told that “the Baptist” was sent from God and his mission was to bear witness to the light. His life and mission left for us an example. Like him, our mission in life is also to bear witness to the reality of the Light of Christ in our life. And like John, we are called so that we don’t live to or for our self. We are called to live for Christ Who lives in us.  

Verses 9-11 elaborate on Christ, the Light. John now shift to show us the historical earthly Christ and His mission here. His coming brought enlightenment to a world engulfed by darkness. He came to this world that He had made, yet the very world He had created did not know Him. The impression we get here is that Christ was not welcomed by His own creature. In place of a hearty welcome, He went unnoticed. Engrossed in their own selfish pursuits, His creation didn’t even give any thought to Him. In verse 11, we get the tragic and painful fact that would play itself out in the many conflicts encountered in His earthly life. He, the Light of the world, came to His own people, the Jews, who ironically were longing for the Messiah. Yet, they totally missed Him and did not recognize or acknowledge Him when He made His appearance. To add insult to injury, they not only rejected and opposed Him, they even sent Him to a cruel death. However, there were those who accepted Him. In acknowledging Him, they were given the privilege and right to become God’s children. These were transformed and had a change of status from being children of the devil, they became children of God. Their transformation did not come about because of human will or design, it comes about by God’s will and design.

Jesus came to His very own but they did not receive Him. Consider the hurt and rejection He must have felt. There were those who had accepted Him then, as there are also those that would accept Him today. Having accepted Him, have we totally surrendered all that we are and all that we can potentially become to Him, wholeheartedly?