📖 Injili ya Yohana — Sehemu ya 5: Nuru ya Ulimwengu📖 The Gospel of John — Unit 5: The Light of the World

Utangulizi — Nuru Iliyo Kuu ZaidiIntroduction — A Greater Light

Jua ni mojawapo ya ishara kuu za Mungu za uweza wake mwenyewe. Ni kubwa mno kiasi kwamba dunia zaidi ya milioni moja zingeweza kutoshea ndani yake; ndani yake tanuru linawaka bila kukoma, likimwaga nishati inayolisha kila jani na kupasha joto kila kiumbe hai. Tusingeweza kuishi wiki moja bila jua. Hata hivyo kuna Nuru iliyo kuu kuliko jua — inayopatikana, kama mtaniruhusu mchezo wa maneno wa Kiingereza (sun na Son), katika "Jua" jingine, yaani Mwana: Mwana wa Mungu mwenyewe, Yesu Kristo. Yeye anang'aa kuliko jua, kwa maana jua linaangaza ulimwengu ulio nje yetu tu, lakini Yeye anaangaza vilindi vya nafsi. Katika nyua za hekalu, taa kubwa za Sikukuu zikiwa bado akilini mwa watu, alitoa mojawapo ya madai ya ujasiri mkuu kuliko yote yaliyowahi kutoka kinywani mwa mwanadamu: "Mimi ndimi nuru ya ulimwengu; yeye anifuataye hatakwenda gizani kamwe, bali atakuwa na nuru ya uzima" (Yohana 8:12). Hili ni la pili kati ya maneno saba makuu ya Yohana ya "MIMI NDIMI" — chakula cha uzima, nuru ya ulimwengu, mlango, mchungaji mwema, ufufuo na uzima, njia na kweli na uzima, na mzabibu wa kweli — na kila moja linafunua Yeye ni nani na anatoa nini. Ni dai la tumaini na pia dai la hukumu kwa wakati mmoja, na sehemu hii inafuatilia kile ambacho Nuru hiyo inafanya.The sun is one of God's great signs of His own power. It is so vast that more than a million earths could fit inside it; in its depths a furnace burns without ceasing, pouring out the energy that feeds every leaf and warms every living thing. We could not live a week without it. And yet there is a greater Light than the sun — found, if you will permit the play on the word, in another Son: the very Son of God, Jesus the Christ. He outshines the sun, for the sun lights only the world outside us, while He lights the depths of the soul. In the temple courts, with the great lamps of the Feast still in mind, He made one of the boldest claims that ever crossed human lips: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). This is the second of John's seven great "I AM" sayings — the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth and the life, and the true vine — and each one reveals who He is and what He gives. It is a claim of hope and a claim of judgment at once, and this unit traces what that Light does.

I. Mimi Ndimi Nuru ya UlimwenguI. I Am the Light of the World

Angalia kwamba hasemi atatuonyesha nuru, wala kwamba atatufundisha habari za nuru. Anasema, "Mimi ndimi nuru," kisha, "yeye anifuataye." Bwana wetu hakuwa kamwe akikusanya umati wa watu wanaomstaajabia tu; alikuwa akifanya wanafunzi, na mwanafunzi, kwa asili kabisa ya neno lenyewe, ni mtu anayejifunza, aliye chini ya nidhamu, mwanafunzi anayefundishwa kweli na Bwana wake. Si bahati mbaya kwamba waamini wa kwanza mwanzoni hawakujiita Wakristo; walijiita wafuasi wa "Njia." Walikuwa wamekaza macho yao juu ya Nuru moja na walikusudia kutembea kwa nuru hiyo — Nuru, Njia, Kweli, na Uzima.Notice that He does not say He will show us a light, or teach us about the light. He says, "I am the light," and then, "He who follows Me." Our Lord was never gathering a crowd of mere admirers; He was making disciples, and a disciple, by the very root of the word, is a learner, one under discipline, a student being trained in the truth by his Master. It is no accident that the first believers did not at first call themselves Christians; they called themselves followers of "the Way." They had fixed their eyes on one Light and meant to walk by it — the Light, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

II. Nuru Huondoa GizaII. Light Dispels the Darkness

Jambo la kwanza ambalo nuru hufanya ni kufichua. Nuru na giza haviwezi kukaa chumba kimoja; washa kiberiti kimoja tu katika chumba cha chini ya ardhi na giza linakimbia mara moja. Hivyo Nuru ya ulimwengu ilipotembea kati ya wanadamu, iliwafichua — nao hawakushukuru kwa hilo. "Nayo nuru yang'aa gizani, wala giza halikuiweza" (Yohana 1:5). Na tena: "watu walipenda giza kuliko nuru, kwa maana matendo yao yalikuwa maovu. Kwa maana kila atendaye mabaya huichukia nuru... matendo yake yasije yakakemewa" (Yohana 3:19–20). Viongozi wa dini walikuwa wamedhani kwamba wamemwelewa Mungu kikamilifu: shika sheria, kaza sheria, nawe u mwenye haki. Lakini hakuna orodha ya sheria inayoweza kubeba mapenzi yote ya Mungu, na Nuru ilifunua jinsi mioyo yao ilivyopungukiwa. Yesu ndiye sura inayoonekana ya Mungu asiyeonekana; ndani yake utakatifu tulioujua kutoka Agano la Kale umeunganishwa na upendo na rehema ambavyo hatukuwa tumethubutu kuviona, naye hakuja kuitangua Torati bali kuitimiliza. Giza daima huchukia kufichuliwa kwa namna hiyo.The first thing light does is expose. Light and darkness cannot share a room; strike a single match in a cellar and the dark gives way at once. So when the Light of the world walked among men, He exposed them — and they were not grateful for it. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5). And again: "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light... lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:19–20). The religious leaders had imagined they had God neatly figured out: keep the rules, tighten the rules, and you are righteous. But no list of rules can hold the whole will of God, and the Light revealed how far their hearts fell short. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God; in Him the holiness we knew from the Old Testament is joined to a love and mercy we had scarcely dared to see, and He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. The dark always hates that kind of exposure.

Lakini Nuru hufanya zaidi ya kufichua; pia huwasha. Kristo anapoangaza ndani ya moyo, moyo huo unakuwa kiakisi cha nuru. Katika ukanda mmoja wa mchanga ulio upweke huko Bahamas, mnara wa taa wakati mmoja uliwaka kwa mwali mdogo wa mafuta ya taa tu — lakini ulipowekwa nyuma ya vioo na lenzi zake, mwali huo mdogo ulitupa mwanga maili ishirini na tano baharini na kuziongoza meli salama kupita miamba. Sisi tuko hivyo. Hatutengenezi nuru yetu wenyewe; tunaipokea tu na kuirudisha nuru ya Kristo. Ndiyo maana anawaambia wale wanaomfuata, "Ninyi ni nuru ya ulimwengu... nuru yenu na iangaze mbele ya watu, wapate kuyaona matendo yenu mema, wamtukuze Baba yenu aliye mbinguni" (Mathayo 5:14–16). Mwanafunzi anayetembea katika Nuru anakuwa, naye pia, taa kwa wengine ambao bado wako gizani.But the Light does more than expose; it also kindles. Once Christ shines into a heart, that heart becomes a reflector. On a lonely strip of sand in the Bahamas a lighthouse once burned with nothing but a small kerosene flame — yet set behind its mirrors and lenses, that little flame threw a beam twenty-five miles out to sea and steered ships safely past the reefs. We are like that. We make no light of our own; we only catch and throw back the light of Christ. So He says to those who follow Him, "You are the light of the world... let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14–16). The disciple who walks in the Light becomes, in turn, a lamp for others still in the dark.

III. Mwana wa PekeeIII. The Unique Son

Walipopinga kwamba mtu hawezi kujishuhudia mwenyewe, Yesu alijibu kwamba hasimami peke yake: Yeye alishuhudia, na Baba aliyemtuma alishuhudia pia, hivyo sharti la Torati la mashahidi wawili lilitimizwa (tutakutana na mahakama hiyo yote ya mashahidi katika sehemu inayofuata). Kwa maana Yeye si mwana wa kawaida wa Mungu; ndiye monogenes, Mwana mmoja wa pekee. Sisi tunaweza kufanywa wana katika familia ya Mungu, lakini kuna Mwana mmoja tu anayeshiriki asili yenyewe ya Baba. Huu ndio mtindo tuliouona tangu sura ya kwanza: kutoka kwa mama yake alitwaa ubinadamu wa kweli, na hivyo alichoka, aliona kiu, aliweza kufa; kutoka kwa Baba anayo hekima na nguvu ambazo hakuna mwanadamu aliyewahi kuwa nazo, hivyo kwamba alipokuwa kijana aliwashangaza walimu, alijua historia ya siri ya wageni, aliponya, alitembea juu ya bahari na akafufuka kutoka kaburini. Mungu kamili na mwanadamu kamili, katika Nafsi moja. Ni dai hili — kwamba alikuwa sawa na Mungu — lililogeuza pingamizi lao kuwa nia ya kuua mioyoni mwao.When they objected that a man may not testify about himself, Jesus answered that He did not stand alone: He bore witness, and the Father who sent Him bore witness too, so the Law's requirement of two witnesses was met (we will meet that whole courtroom of witnesses in the next unit). For He is no ordinary son of God; He is the monogenes, the one unique Son. We may be adopted into God's family, but there is only one Son who shares the Father's very nature. Here is the pattern we have seen from the first chapter: from His mother He took a true humanity, and so He grew weary, He thirsted, He could die; from the Father He has wisdom and power no man ever had, so that as a boy He astonished the teachers, He knew the secret history of strangers, He healed and walked upon the sea and rose from the tomb. Fully God and fully man, in one Person. It was this claim — that He was equal with God — that turned their objection into murder in their hearts.

IV. Kabla Ibrahimu Hajakuwako, MIMI NDIMIIV. Before Abraham Was, I AM

Mabishano yaliongezeka mpaka Yesu akasema sentensi ya kushangaza kuliko zote katika sura hiyo. Walikuwa wamejivunia Ibrahimu; Yeye akajibu kwamba Ibrahimu alishangilia kuiona siku yake. "Hujapata bado miaka hamsini, nawe umemwona Ibrahimu?" Kisha: "Amin, amin, nawaambia, Kabla Ibrahimu hajakuwako, MIMI NDIMI" (Yohana 8:58). Hakusema "kabla Ibrahimu hajakuwako, nilikuwako." Alisema MIMI NDIMI — jina lile lile Mungu alilompa Musa kwenye kichaka kilichokuwa kikiwaka moto, jina la Mungu wa milele, aliyeko kwa nafsi yake mwenyewe. Kwa pumzi moja alidai kuwako kabla ya Ibrahimu na kubeba Jina la kiungu. Viongozi walimwelewa kikamilifu; ndiyo sababu waliokota mawe ili wamtupie. Wasingesujudu, kwa hiyo wangeua — kwa maana masikioni mwao seremala alikuwa amejiita Mungu. Walikuwa sahihi kuhusu dai hilo na wamekosea kuhusu Mtu huyo.The argument rose until Jesus said the most staggering sentence in the chapter. They had boasted of Abraham; He answered that Abraham had rejoiced to see His day. "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" And then: "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). He did not say "before Abraham was, I was." He said I AM — the very name God gave Moses at the burning bush, the name of the eternal, self-existent God. In one breath He claimed to exist before Abraham and to bear the divine Name. The leaders understood Him perfectly; that is why they took up stones to throw at Him. They would not bow, so they would kill — for in their ears a carpenter had just called Himself God. They were right about the claim and wrong about the Man.

V. Mtu Aliyezaliwa KipofuV. The Man Born Blind

Kisha Yohana anatuonyesha dai hilo likitendeka. Yesu alipita karibu na mtu aliyekuwa kipofu tangu kuzaliwa, na wanafunzi wakauliza swali ambalo ulimwengu wao wote ulilichukulia kuwa kweli: "Rabi, ni nani aliyetenda dhambi, huyu au wazazi wake, hata azaliwe kipofu?" Walichukulia kwamba mateso kama hayo lazima yawe adhabu kwa ajili ya dhambi ya mtu fulani. Yesu aliliondoa wazo hilo: "Huyu hakutenda dhambi, wala wazazi wake; bali kazi za Mungu zidhihirishwe ndani yake" (Yohana 9:3). Si kila huzuni ni hukumu kwa ajili ya dhambi; upofu huu ulikuwa umesubiri maisha yote ya mtu huyo ili uwe jukwaa la kazi za Mungu. "Muda nilipo ulimwenguni," Yesu alisema, "mimi ni nuru ya ulimwengu" (Yohana 9:5). Kisha akafanya jambo la ajabu na la upole: alitema mate chini, akafanya tope, akayapaka macho yale ya kipofu, akamtuma akanawe katika birika la Siloamu — jina lenye maana ya Aliyetumwa. Mtu huyo alishuka akiwa gizani akarudi akiona. Nuru ya ulimwengu ilikuwa imempa macho mtu ambaye hakuwahi kuona, kama vile alivyosema zamani, "Iwe nuru."Then John shows us the claim in action. Jesus passed a man blind from birth, and the disciples asked the question their whole world assumed: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" They took it for granted that such suffering must be punishment for somebody's sin. Jesus swept that away: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him" (John 9:3). Not every sorrow is a sentence for sin; this blindness had been waiting all the man's life to become a stage for the works of God. "As long as I am in the world," Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5). Then He did a strange and tender thing: He spat on the ground, made clay, anointed the blind eyes, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam — a name that means Sent. The man went down in darkness and came up seeing. The Light of the world had given eyes to a man who had never seen, the way He had once said, "Let there be light."

VI. Kutoka Gizani Hadi NuruniVI. From Darkness to Light

Kinachofuata ni mojawapo ya matukio ya kibinadamu sana na karibu ya kuchekesha katika Injili, nalo linaonyesha nafsi ikipanda kutoka gizani hatua kwa hatua. Majirani wanabishana kama kweli ni mtu yule yule. Akiburutwa mbele ya Mafarisayo, yule aliyeponywa anaeleza kwa urahisi: "Najua neno moja, kwamba nalikuwa kipofu na sasa naona" (Yohana 9:25). Wanamsonga kwa maswali, na ukiri wake unakua kadiri anavyozungumza. Kwanza Yesu ni "mtu aitwaye Yesu." Kisha, "Yeye ni nabii." Kisha, licha ya vitisho vyao vyote, "Kama huyu asingetoka kwa Mungu, asingeweza kufanya neno lo lote." Wakamtupa nje ya sinagogi kwa ajili ya hilo — na hapo ndipo Yesu alipomwona akamuuliza, "Je! Wewe wamwamini Mwana wa Mungu?" Mtu huyo akajibu, "Bwana, naamini," akamsujudia (Yohana 9:38). Angalia kejeli ambayo Yohana anaijenga: macho ya mtu huyo yalifunguliwa kwa dakika moja pale birikani, lakini moyo wake uliingia nuruni hatua kwa hatua, mpaka akaanguka akamsujudia. Wakati huo huo wale wataalamu, kila mmoja akiwa na macho mawili mazima, walizidi kuwa gizani saa kwa saa. Kuona kwa kweli, mwishowe, ni jambo la moyo, si la macho.What follows is one of the most human and almost comic scenes in the Gospel, and it traces a soul climbing out of darkness step by step. The neighbors argue over whether it is even the same man. Dragged before the Pharisees, the healed man keeps it simple: "One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). They press him, and his confession grows as he speaks. First Jesus is "a man called Jesus." Then, "He is a prophet." Then, against all their threats, "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They cast him out of the synagogue for it — and that is when Jesus found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" The man answered, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him (John 9:38). Notice the irony John builds: the man's eyes were opened in one instant at the pool, but his heart came into the light by degrees, until he fell down and worshiped. The experts, meanwhile, with two good eyes apiece, grew darker by the hour. True sight, in the end, is a matter of the heart, not the eyes.

VII. Wale Wanaosema WanaonaVII. Those Who Say They See

Yesu Mwenyewe alitoa somo hilo: "Mimi nimekuja ulimwenguni humu kwa hukumu, ili wao wasioona waone, nao wanaoona wawe vipofu" (Yohana 9:39). Mafarisayo walikasirika: "Je! Sisi nasi tu vipofu?" Naye akawapa neno zito kuliko yote katika sura hiyo: "Kama mngekuwa vipofu, msingekuwa na dhambi; lakini sasa mwasema, Twaona; basi dhambi yenu inakaa" (Yohana 9:41). Hapo ndipo msiba wote ulipo. Yule mwombaji alijua kwamba ni kipofu, na hivyo akapata kuona; wale wataalamu walikuwa na hakika kwamba wanaona, na hivyo wakabaki gizani. Nuru ya ulimwengu bado inapita, na watu pekee ambao hawezi kuwasaidia ni wale wanaosisitiza kwamba hawahitaji msaada. Basi swali ambalo sehemu hii inakuachia ni rahisi na linachunguza moyo: wewe ni mtu yupi — yule anayekubali upofu wake na kupewa nuru, au yule mwenye hakika kwamba tayari anaona? Ifuate Nuru, nawe hutakwenda gizani.Jesus drew the lesson Himself: "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind" (John 9:39). The Pharisees bristled: "Are we blind also?" And He gave them the most sobering word in the chapter: "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains" (John 9:41). There is the whole tragedy. The beggar knew he was blind, and so he received his sight; the experts were sure they saw, and so they stayed in the dark. The Light of the world is still passing by, and the only people He cannot help are the ones who insist they need no help. So the question this unit leaves with you is simple and searching: which man are you — the one who admits his blindness and is given light, or the one who is certain he already sees? Follow the Light, and you will not walk in darkness.

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