Journey Lesson 32 The Light And The Life

By Marcel Gervais

This is lesson 32 of the Journey Bible Study Program series The purpose of this lesson is to describe Jesus as the life and the light of the world. In chapter 1 we describe the power to give life and to judge granted to Jesus by the Father as explained by John in 4:46- 5:47. In chapter 2 we describe Jesus as the bread of life and we describe the true motive for seeking him. In chapter 3 we describe the background and meaning of the texts in which Jesus identifies himself as the "source of living water", "light of the world" and bearer of the divine name "I AM". In chapter 4 we describe how Jesus leads us to eternal life. In chapter 5 we learn of Jesus triumph of death by raising Lazarus from the dead. Then in chapter 6 we learn how Jesus brings life to the world through his death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcel Gervais
• Release date: Mar 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927766354

Marcel Gervais

About the Author Archbishop Gervais was born in Elie Manitoba on September 21 1931. He is the ninth of fourteen children. His family came from Manitoba to the Sparta area near St. Thomas Ontario when he was just a teenager. He went to Sparta Continuation School and took his final year at Saint Joseph`s High School in St. Thomas. After high school he went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London , Ontario. He was ordained in 1958. He was sent to study in Rome. This was followed by studies at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. He returned to London to teach scripture to the seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary. In 1974 he was asked by Bishop Emmett Carter to take over as director of the Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education. This Centre had been founded by Bishop Carter to provide a resource for adult education in the spirit of Vatican II. This Centre involved sessions of one or two weeks with many of the best scholars of the time. Students came not only from Canada and the United States but from all over the globe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe. By the time Father Gervais became the director Divine Word Centre was already a course dominated by the study of scripture to which he added social justice. This aspect of the course of studies was presented by people from every part of the “third world”; among which were Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez and Cardinal Dery of Ghana. In 1976 the Conference of Ontario Bishops along with the Canadian conference of Religious Women approached Father Gervais to provide a written course of studies in Sacred Scripture for the Church at large, but especially for priests and religious women. This is when Fr. Gervais began to write Journey, a set of forty lessons on the Bible. He was armed with a treasure of information from all the teachers and witnesses to the faith that had lectured at Devine Word. He was assisted by a large number of enthusiastic collaborators: all the people who had made presentations at Divine Word and provided materials and a team of great assistants, also at Divine Word Centre. The work was finished just as Father Gervais was ordained an auxiliary bishop of London (1980). He subsequently was made Bishop of Sault Saint Marie Diocese, and after four years, Archbishop of Ottawa (1989). He retired in 2007, and at the time of this writing, he is enjoying retirement.

Book preview

Journey- Lesson 32 The Light and the Life

by Marcel Gervais, Emeritus Archbishop of the diocese of Ottawa, Canada

Nihil Obstat: Michael T. Ryan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Imprimatur: + John M. Sherlock, Bishop of London

London, March 31, 1980

This content of this book was first published in 1977 as part of the JOURNEY Series By Guided Study Programs in the Catholic Faith and is now being republished in Smashwords by Emmaus Publications, 99 Fifth Avenue, Suite 103, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5P5, Canada ON Smashwords

Having said this, he shouted in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, bound hand and foot with linen strips and his face wrapped in a cloth. 'Untie him,' Jesus told them, 'and let him go.' John 11:43-44

COPYRIGHT © Guided Study Programs In the Catholic Faith, a division of The Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education 1977. Reproduction in whole or in part is Prohibited.

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Life-Giver (4:46 - 5:47)

Chapter 2 The Bread of Life (6:1-71)

Chapter 3 I AM 8:59)

Chapter 4 Judgment by the Light (9:110:42)

Chapter 5 Life Triumphs Over Death (11:1-54)

Chapter 6 Life Through Death (11:55 - 12:36)

Appendix

Answer key to practice questions

Self-test

Answer key to self-test

Recommendations for group meeting on lesson Thirty-two

About The Author

Psalm 78:1-25

The psalmist urges the People to keep in mind all that God has done for them. He believes that if they learn from their history they will wonder at the marvels God worked for them and turn away from the rebellious behaviour of their ancestors. He recounts the mighty deeds of God and the shameful response of their forefathers. God freed them from Egypt by dividing the sea; he led them through trackless wasteland in a pillar of fire; he split a rock to give them water to drink; he gave them bread from heaven to eat. But with each act of love, the ancients asked for more, answering God’s fidelity with unbelief.

With the coming of God in the person of Jesus things are much the same: Jesus feeds the multitude (John 6:1ff) and controls the sea (6:16ff). He offers himself as the bread from heaven (6:32ff) and promises living waters (7:37ff). He gives himself as the light to guide them in the night (8:12). He works miracles which reveal his goodness and his power to give life. But the People demand still more signs and few believe in him. The faithfulness of Jesus, however, is the faithfulness of God: no matter how much they may rebel he loves his People and will lay down his life for them.

Lesson Objective: To describe Jesus as the life and the light of the world.

Saint John’s Gospel is the work of a contemplative pastor: it springs from prayerful reflection on Jesus, refined and deepened by involvement in every issue, every conflict affecting the church in his care. Everything he wrote is marked by love for Christ and concern for the com munity of disciples. His love for Jesus is sturdy, not soft and sentimental, for he knew Jesus to be God-made-man. Admiration for the Lord as a good man, a mighty prophet, and a miracle-worker simply would not suffice, because the truth about him allows no compromise, no reduction to more acceptable terms. As for the Church, John is as fiercely devoted to her as a shepherd defending his flock against ravenous wolves. This is why there is a certain sternness, a certain no-nonsense quality about this Gospel, especially in the chapters we are about to study. Only near the end of the Book of Signs do we begin to feel that warm and intimate love which so marks the last half of the Gospel (esp. chapters 13 to 17).

We have divided the Book of Signs (Chs 2 to 12) into seven episodes (see Lesson 31, p. 9). We have already commented on the first of these episodes and in this lesson we mean to con sider the remaining six. The principal themes of this part of the Gospel are developed around the terms "life" and "light". Except where the text clearly indicates that mortal human life is intended (e.g. 12:25), "life" means eternal life in union with God. "Light" has three closely related meanings in John. It is a symbol of God’s leadership, of God’s will and of God’s judgement. Christ is The Light because he leads the world to eternal life; he leads by revealing God's will and, in shedding light on God’s will, he necessarily exposes whatever is against God's will. As The Light, therefore, he is Judge as well as Leader.

Chapter 1The Life-Giver (4:46- 5:47)

Section Objective: To describe the power to give life and to judge granted to Jesus by the Father as explained by John. in 4:46- 5:47.

The second episode (4:46- 5:47) consists of two signs and a commentary. The first sign is the healing of a boy who is mortally ill; the second is the cure of an invalid on the Sabbath. The commentary develops the theme of the divine power of Jesus revealed by these signs. As in the first episode (2:1 - 4:45), the signs take place in Cana and in Jerusalem.

Note: The "royal official" is probably a man in the service of Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee, who was often referred to as a king. Capernaum is on the shores of the Sea of Galilee; Cana is some thirty miles away in the high hill country of Galilee.

Reading: John 4:46-54

"He begged him to come down and restore health to his son who was near death" (4:47). The official has sufficient faith to ask Jesus to cure his son; but he cannot imagine that Jesus can work such a miracle at a distance of thirty miles or so from his dying son.

Jesus reproaches him for having the kind of faith which needs to be supported by visible evidence: "Unless you people see ... " But the official rises to the challenge: when Jesus tells him to go back to