One Or The Other?

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

I still remember the physics class. The professor demonstrated conclusively that light is a stream of particles, best understood by thinking about a bunch of tiny objects that can be counted one by one.

Then – in the same class – he showed us that light isn’t like that at all, because light really behaves like continuous waves. And as we sat there totally confused he posed the question we were all thinking: So, which is it? Particles, or waves? The answer was most unsettling. 

It’s both. Wait…what??

Turns out, light is…light. It’s its own thing. Understanding light requires a new way of thinking in which something can be particle and wave at the same time!

Thus was born quantum mechanics and relativity and an entirely new way of understanding the universe. And I know this isn’t a science lesson, but there’s an anology.

We often wonder, even in the midst of our belief, how the child in the manger could really be fully God and fully human. Our human logic tells us that can’t happen. Just like human logic told a young physics student the two demonstrations he watched were impossible.

But sometimes logic isn’t logical. New evidence that doesn’t fit your categories requires new “logic” and new thinking.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

Maybe He’s telling us He’s an entirely new thing that doesn’t fit the old logic. When He says, “Follow me” and “You are the light of the world,” maybe He points us toward something remarkable, something we can’t reach with old thinking. Maybe He’s telling us to stop trying to fit our thinking into old boxes. 

New wine…new wineskins.