Devotional 12-28-09

Enlightenment

Read John 1:1-18

Jesus came as a light shining in the darkness. When light shines in the dark places, the truth is exposed and made known. Sometimes, we do not want the light to shine on our dark places; we would just as soon keep them hidden.

Many enlightened people have faced significant obstacles when they have tried to shed light on the darkness of the status quo. One such person is Clarence Jordan. Clarence Jordan is known as the author of the Cotton Patch Gospels. He took the gospel out of the stained glass sanctuaries into the fields where the people were working. Clarence Jordan also lived as a bright light in the midst of the racial prejudice that is a dark part of our nation’s history.

Clarence Jordan grew up in a prosperous family. He received a traditional Baptist theological education, got his PhD in Greek New Testament and was on his way to becoming a seminary professor. Instead, he left seminary to establish Koinonia Farm, an interracial community in rural segregated Georgia in the mid-forties. The members of the Koinonia Farm followed Jesus and lived, worked, and worshiped together—a radical concept. Many people did not look on Koinonia Farm with favor.

Because he challenged established tradition, Clarence Jordan expected opposition, but he did not anticipate that he would be excommunicated by his denomination. Certainly, he could not have known that he and the Farm would be the victim of vandalism, cross burning, beatings, bombings, and shootings. Yet he continued to be a light: to live, speak, and write the truth.

Sometimes, people would rather that the darkness not be exposed by the light of truth.

When companies began to refuse to deliver LP gas to the farm for heat, in spite of laws that required them to do so, Jordan turned to his brother Robert for help.

Robert Jordan was an attorney and an aspiring politician who would later become a state senator and state supreme court justice. Robert refused. He told Clarence that because of his political aspirations, he had “too much to lose” to help with the Farm’s problems.

Clarence challenged Robert to recall a time when they both were boys. They had attended a church service together, and they had both gone to the alter. The conversation went something like this:

Clarence: “Do you remember when the preacher asked you if you want to follow Jesus?”
Robert: “Yes Clarence, of course I remember! I told him I did want to follow Jesus…and Clarence, I do follow Jesus—to a point”
Clarence: “Robert, I suggest you go back to that little church, and you stand up before the people, and you tell them that what you meant to say is that you admire Jesus, not that you want to follow him.”

If we want to be followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be a light to the world even when the world wants to remain in darkness. Being the light requires us at times to step out of our comfort zones. Do you want to follow Jesus? Or do you just admire him?

Jeff Taylor