A very foggy morning turned into a beautiful day! Thank You, Father, for Your many blessings!
John 20:1-10 (<<click here to read the passage)
The origins of phrases and colloquialisms in culture are very interesting. Some go back hundreds of years while some are far more recent in their beginnings.
For example, how did the lightbulb become associated with a new idea? With a little Google searching, I find out! First of all, Thomas Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb, but he basically perfected it into something usable. That was in the late 1870s.
We have to jump a few years ahead to the 1920s. Even then, in the silent-film era, cartoons were a popular form of entertainment. Felix the Cat was at the top of the list, predating Mickey Mouse by more than a decade. And it was Felix who cemented the notion of a light bulb as a new idea.
When Felix was thinking, symbols and letters would sometimes appear over his head, and he would often use them as props: question marks became ladders, and musical notes became vehicles. It was in these symbolic images that we first see the light bulb used to represent a new idea.*
Pretty cool!
Throughout his Gospel, he never mentions himself by name, but the Apostle John was the “other” disciple in these verses of Scripture. He had been with Jesus from the beginning and was His close associate and friend. He heard and saw just about everything that Jesus did. And you will remember that time and time again, Jesus laid out what would happen to Himself. He was very clear, but it just never seemed to register with His followers, John included. But in these two verses, the proverbial light bulb glowed to life above John’s head!

Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. John 20:8-9 NLT

With all they had been through John finally saw and believed! He finally understood what Scripture, and Jesus in turn, had been saying all along! When God’s plan had been laid out in its entirety, it finally clicked for John. Peter was a little slower on the draw. Luke’s Gospel says that Peter “…peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.” Luke 24:12b NLT
But eventually, Peter too believed the truth of Who Jesus was and what He had come to do.
Lord Jesus may each of us have that “aha!” moment where the light bulb appears over our heads, and we too see and believe! And just as importantly, may we be diligent at pointing others to You, so they can believe as well. Amen!

*from a post on Medium.com

Nov 10th, 2021, Wed, 8:41 pm