Are the lights on?

John 12:20-38

20-21 Among those who had come up to worship 
at the festival were some Greeks. They approached 
Philip with the request, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 
22 Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew went 
with Philip and told Jesus. 23-26 Jesus told them, 
“The time has come for the Son of Man to be 
glorified. I tell you truly that unless a grain of wheat 
falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain 
of wheat; but if it does, it brings a good harvest. 
The man who loves his own life will destroy it, and 
the man who hates his life in this world will preserve 
it for eternal life. If a man wants to enter my service, 
he must follow my way; and where I am, my servant 
will also be. And my Father will honour every man 
who enters my service. 27-28 “Now comes my hour 
of heart-break, and what can I say, ‘Father, save me 
from this hour’? No, it was for this very purpose 
that I came to this hour. ‘Father, honour your own 
name!’” At this there came a voice from Heaven, 
“I have honoured it and I will honour it again!” 
29 When the crowd of bystanders heard this, they 
 said it thundered, but some of them said, “An angel 
spoke to him.” 30-33 Then Jesus said, “That voice 
came for your sake, not for mine. Now is the time for 
the judgment of this world to begin, and now will 
the spirit that rules this world be driven out. As for 
me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all 
men to myself.” (He said this to show the kind of 
death he was going to die.) 34 Then the crowd said, 
“We have heard from the Law that Christ lives for 
ever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be 
‘lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35-36a At this, 
Jesus said to them, “You have the light with you only 
a little while longer. Go on while the light is good, 
before the darkness comes down upon you. For the 
man who walks in the dark has no idea where he is 
going. You must believe in the light while you have 
the light, that you may become the sons of light.” 
36b-38 Jesus said all these things, and then went 
away, out of their sight. But though he had given 
so many signs, yet they did not believe in him, so 
that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, when he 
said, ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to 
whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ 
J. B. Phillips, "The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition by HarperCollins 

So much here. I’m going to focus on v. 35b, “Go on while the light is good… “ Jesus seems to be trying to help the disciples develop some perspective. They don’t realize how good they’ve got it; Jesus is right there with them. Hey disciples, want to know what would Jesus do? Well, just ask him; he’s right by your side. Developing a perspective or framework from which to develop your understandings of situations gets better with depth and breadth of experience and knowledge. Depth and breadth is what you are working on as a student. From my professorial seat, I’d echo Jesus’ exhortation to you—Go on while the light is good. Southwestern College abounds in external points of light that are good: healthy community, teaching teachers, people who have integrated their extraordinary minds with their passionate hearts, this lenten blog that captures a variety of voices of faith, weekly chapel, retreat experiences, leadership development, opportunities to lead worship, trips to explore the larger world of believers, opportunity to be doers and not just observers of ministry, recommendation letters from people who know you, and people who allow you access to their networks and use of their good name. Go on while the light is good. Soak it all in, take advantage of this privileged moment in your life. Let the external light that is with you now, energize your internal light. In the end, the empowering of yourself by the light of the holy spirit is not for yourself but for the world. Is the light good in your heart because the flood lights are on at SC?

Cheryl L. Rude, Ph.D. is the Division Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Leadership Studies