Men have shown they prefer darkness to the light!

John 3:14-21

And as Moses in the wilderness lifted up the bronze image of a serpent on a pole, even so I must be lifted up upon a pole, so that anyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. “There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God. Their sentence is based on this fact: that the Light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the Light, for their deeds were evil. They hated the heavenly Light because they wanted to sin in the darkness. They stayed away from that Light for fear their sins would be exposed and they would be punished. But those doing right come gladly to the Light to let everyone see that they are doing what God wants them to.”

Food for thought!

Jesus said,”Men preferred darkness to light”. What does he mean? Before we answer let’s remember Deuteronomy 30:19

I call heaven and earth to witness against you that today I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Oh, that you would choose life; that you and your children might live!

God put, and puts, before us a choice. The life God gave us is a life of choices. “I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse.” Life is about choosing. We choose what to wear, what we eat, where we live, what to do and be, what to think, what to say. We are free to choose as we like. That is the good news.

The bad news is that when the time.came for us to choose, we chose death over life, evil over good. This is the bitter truth that Jesus tells us in today’s gospel reading: men have shown they prefer darkness to the light.

Jesus remembers Adam and Eve’s choice of death. Adam and Eve were given the power to choose immortality or to choose death, just as animals were given instincts, and the seeds of plants were commanded to reproduce after their own kind. But Adam and Eve were given the gift of deciding what kinds of beings they could become. This is the same gift that’s given to all of us, you and I. We are free to choose what we so desire. 

Well, today Jesus tells us the truth. When the time cam

e, and comes, we chose (in Adam and Eve) and choose in each one of us, darkness instead of light, darkness instead of light, lies instead of truth, hate instead of love.

When the rubber hits the road we choose Barabbas over Jesus. “Now it was the season of the year when it was customary to release a man who was imprisoned. “Whom will you have me release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus? And they cried, Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!” “And when the wife of Pilate said to him, will you do this thing? he washed his hands. Finally, Pilate chose to release Barabbas and had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. 

This choice is set before us everyday and everywhere. The choice takes place in you and me. We must either release Barabbas and crucify the Lord or release Jesus and suffocate Barabbas. Watch your choices. In every choice you either choose Barabbas or Jesus, either lies or truth; either life or death; either violence or peace; either hate or love.

Watch your choices because the choices you make today will make you tomorrow. All of us are today the result of the choices we made in the past. We can change our life just by changing the choices we make. Make good choices and the good choices will make you.