Finding Jesus In HanakkuhSample

  

Day 3

Don’t Reject Me (Love)

Scripture: John 3:19 ... the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light,..

Teach: On that Judean evening when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, the part of the conversation that has always saddened me is when Jesus said, ”The Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness more than light.” There are not many feelings that we have in our lives that hurt on such a deep level as the feeling of rejection. I would be surprised if there is a reader of this study who has never experienced the sorrowful and lonely abandonment feeling that rejection produces. Whether it’s as small as being the last kid picked at school for a sport, or as soul wrenching as being rejected by a loved one or by one whom you admire, the pain of rejection hurts. Here in the story of Nicodemus we see that even the Messiah, the Light of the world, is rejected.

I find it incomprehensible how frequently we seem to shun the Light of God and embrace the darkness. There is something inherent in mankind since the Fall of Man in the garden that our default position seems to be gravitation to darkness rather than light.

We see both sides of this issue in the story of some of the Israelites in comparison to Mattathias Maccabeus. In the first two chapters of 1 Maccabees, we read how Antiochus IV Epiphanes had commanded the Jewish people to cease with their burnt offerings, festivals, Sabbaths, and circumcision. In addition, we see that many Israelites consented to his commands and not only ceased these things, but furthermore sacrificed unto idols and profaned the Sabbath. They loved the darkness rather than the light. However, when Mattathias was asked to do the same, he responded by saying, “Though all the nations that are under the king’s dominion obey him, and fall away… Yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers” (2 Mac 2:19-20). Here we see a man that was determined to not reject his God. He was resolute in his desire to embrace light, not darkness.

Prayer: Lord, may you help me to reject evil and to embrace love. Help me each day to follow you, the true Light of the World.