“Not the Light, but the Lens”
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Reading: John 1:1-18
I remember when I first got glasses. I was very little, five, maybe six years old. I remember before that always being that kid who always sat in the front row, so I knew what was going on. I was really interested in what the teacher was be saying. I was squinting my eyes to see what she was writing on the board. And I always had my hand up every single time a question was asked. You know that kid. You probably didn’t like that kid, if you're honest. But I was him. And one of the earliest memories I have in my life is sitting in the optometrist's chair for the first time and having that device lowered over my face, the one that looks like a giant pair of binoculars, and they put the lenses in and take them out and realizing that all the time until then, the world had been kind of blurry, but I had no idea. That was just the world I lived in. I saw things as I saw them. I loved reading, but I always had to hold a book like this and sit at the front of the classroom, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with my eyes. And it probably took other people time to realize that too.
But as I sat there in that chair and that device was lowered over my face and they switched the lenses in and out and made me read the letters that were on the board far at the back of the room, I suddenly realized when things were clear that before things had been blurry. I was quite a good reader, but I wasn't reading as well as I could because I needed something to mediate between me and the thing I was trying to see. I needed something to make things clearer so that I could understand what was in front of me.
That's kind of how I feel about the opening of the Gospel of John. The language is a bit blurry, isn't it? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was…” What are you talking about, John? Let's be honest. This is big cosmic language, isn't it? For starters, what is the Word? What does that mean? I know what words are, I see them on a paper. But, the Word was God? It doesn't even make any sense. And then this light in the darkness… what on earth is that?
And so, John, not the Baptist, but the evangelist who writes the Gospel, slaps a lens on the camera and zooms us in so we can see things a bit closer. Not from all the way out there in this cosmic madness where the Word is creating the world, but something that we can know and see and understand. He zooms in and at verse six it says, “There was a man sent from God…” We might think that at that point, he's about to tell us about Jesus, right? You know, the Word and creation and all that, this should be the point where he says, “There was a man sent from God, and he was Jesus and Jesus was the Messiah.” There you go, gospel finished, well done. But no. Because John knows something that we didn't know yet. John knows that they're not ready to hear about Jesus yet. After all this big, blurry cosmic language, they need a way to see Jesus. They need something between them and Jesus that's going to help them understand what they're looking at. They need a lens to see Jesus through.
So, John the Evangelist introduces to us to this man called John the Baptist. He’s an impressive guy, isn't he? We heard about him last week: Amazing preacher, charismatic fellow. He has this big throng of disciples following him to find out the truth that he's bringing. He's baptizing people all over the place, proclaiming the kingdom of God. Wow, this guy's so impressive. There's still a group today that think that he's the real guy, right? That he's the guy. In fact, he's so impressive that the first thing the writer of John's gospel tells us about John is that he's not the light. He says, “This man came to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light.”
He came to bear witness of the one true light which gives light to everyone in the world. John had to let us know that John the Baptist wasn't the light because if we weren't paying attention we might think that this is the one that we're supposed to follow. This is the one that's going to redeem all creation. And we wouldn't be the only ones.
Later on in this chapter, people come up to John having heard the testimony and they ask him, ‘John, you're out here baptizing people and proclaiming the kingdom of God. What are you, Elijah? Are you the prophet? Are you the Messiah?’ And John says, “No, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
John the Baptist says, no, I'm not the light. I'm just a lens. I'm here so that you can see through me the light that's about to redeem all creation. I'm not going to save you, but I hope that if you look past me, you can see the real Saviour within me and behind me. I'm not the light, I'm the lens. And I'm wondering if thinking about our purpose in that way will help us get rid of some of this pressure that we feel as Christians today. Because I'm not sure about you, but sometimes I find it really hard to be the light everywhere. It's kind of exhausting, isn't it? You've got to be the light at home with your family, and then you've got to be the light at work. And then, you know, if you want your neighborhood to run well, you've got to be the light in the neighborhood. And at this time of year, it even turns up a notch, because if you want your neighbours to think well of you, well, you've got to make sure your decorations are beautiful, and the party has to be fun, and the gifts have to be thoughtful, and the cards have to be eloquent, and the food has to be delicious, and you've got to keep a witty comeback in your back pocket for that family member that always brings up politics at the table. You know that one. That's me too, by the way.
It's hard to be the light everywhere. It's exhausting. Trying to muster up from within yourself all this joy and love and hope and peace all the time. Where is it supposed to come from?
So sometimes we find ourselves tired. Sometimes we find ourselves barely flickering, trying to be a light to the world. But the amazing thing is that this man, John the Baptist, Jesus said of him, there was no one greater born from a woman than John the Baptist. Those are Jesus' words. And John the Baptist was not the light. John the Baptist was a lens. He spent his whole time saying, look through me and you'll see the Saviour.
So, if we are going to be lenses in our lives today, friends, we have to know what a lens is for. And there really only three things a lens has to do. A lens doesn't capture or create an image. No, that's what film does. A lens doesn't shine a light in the darkness. That's what a bulb does. A lens has only three jobs: Be focused. Be clear. Magnify.
And that's what John the Baptist did. Firstly, we have to be focused. If we want to show people who Christ is, we ourselves need to be oriented towards Christ in everything. What is your focus in life, friends? What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning? What is it that drives you and makes you feel like you're fulfilling your purpose? John the Baptist knew exactly what it was that he had to do. He knew that he was supposed to be that voice in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, making straight in the desert a highway for our God.
He knew that his whole life was going to be about pointing people to Christ. So much so that he didn't even make sure he had a good diet, okay? Locusts and honey, apparently that'll get you through, but that's not steak and shrimp by anyone's imagination.
He didn't make good fashion choices. He was out here in camel's hair and with a leather thing tied around his waist. He didn't care about looking good to people or being a person of prestige. He had one focus and one focus only. And that's to shine the light of Christ through him, to be a lens through which people could see Jesus and to proclaim the coming kingdom of God. John the Baptist was effective because he was focused.
And that's why the song says, “turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full at his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” When we orient our lives and we're focused on Jesus, you will be amazed at the hardship you can go through at the discomfort that you can tolerate. You can be amazed at the wildernesses that you can walk through when your eyes are laser focused on Jesus.
So, what drives you? What pushes you? Jason said it like this a couple of weeks ago: What do you crave? Because maybe if this is the thing that's stirring in your spirit when you pray, that's the thing that God is calling you to. And if you stay laser focused at where Christ is in your life that's where your destiny is. That's where your blessing is. That's where your joy may be found. If you want to be a good lens, you have to be focused. Doesn't matter how good the prescription is on my glasses; they don't do any good when they're on my head like this. They have to be in the right place, pointing at the right thing in order for me to see clearly. Focus.
But even when we're looking at Christ, even when we're trying to be in the right place so that people can see who Christ is, sometimes they can't see it because the lens is not very clear.
You know, I've got to make sure I rub these things every single morning, sometimes a few times in the middle of the day too. They get rain on them. They get dust on them. They get dirty. And when they're dirty, they obscure my vision. I can't see what I'm trying to see properly because there's all this stuff in the way. Sometimes friends, if we're honest, the reason why people can't see Christ through us is because we're kind of dirty lenses sometimes, aren't we? Do you want to hear about Jesus from someone who's mean and rude? Do want to hear about Jesus from someone who doesn't have anything good to say about anybody? Do you think salvation is coming from the person who's always complaining?
If we want to shine the light of Christ through us, we need to be clean lenses. That doesn't mean we're perfect. Like I said, I've got to wipe these off every single day. They're going to get muddy sometimes. But the Christian walk is one of constantly going before God, constantly confessing, constantly trying to clean those things out of your life that are no good for you, so that when people look at you, they can look through you and see Jesus.
At this time of year, a lot of people are always worried about keeping the Christ in Christmas. You've heard that, I you've heard it every year for like decades, right? And it's not a bad thing. We do need to keep Christ in Christmas. We do need to remind people that this holiday is all about God coming into the world. But let me help you with something. Nobody cares if there's Christ in Christmas, if they can't see that there's Christ in Christians.
When people look at you, can they see Jesus in there? They say the eyes are windows to the soul. When someone looks into your eyes, when you get past the pain and the tiredness and the fact that you'd rather not be awake right now, can they see Jesus in there? Are you loving people with your whole heart? Are you loving your neighbour as yourself? Are you cleaning that lens so that when people encounter you, they may have truly encountered Christ? Are you a clear lens?
You know, sometimes lenses are difficult to see through and it's not our fault. The other day we had an amazing homecoming service that Joanne put on and I remember she came up to the lectern, and she couldn't see through her glasses because she'd been outside and had gotten foggy. They weren't dirty glasses, right? It's just that sometimes life happens and it messes up your clarity. That happens to all of us as well. Sometimes stuff happens in your life that makes it difficult to see where God is in it. But the scriptures say that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They'll rise up on wings as eagles, they'll run and not be weary, they'll walk and not faint. And do know what happens if you wait long enough with foggy glasses? They clear and you'll be able to see properly again.
One job is to be focused. Another one is to be a clear lens. Sometimes we’ve got to wipe them. Sometimes we just have to wait. But even after all that, a lens can't do very much if you have the wrong prescription. Because one job of a lens is to magnify.
John the Baptist said it like this, “I must decrease so that he can increase.” In this text he says, “this is he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me.” This is about humility, friends. It's about pointing to Christ. It's about making sure we've got our lives right so people can see Christ in us. But even after all that, we've got to make sure that we're not the ones getting in the way of our Jesus. We've got to make sure that when people look at us, they see Jesus as big as possible, so much so they don't even notice that we're standing in between.
That's what a lens does very well. It gives all the glory to the target. It magnifies what's in front of it so that it can be seen clearly. And so how do we glorify God in our lives? We turn people's attention to what should be bigger and brighter in their lives. When things are going well for us and people say, isn't that great? We don't say, yeah, I was really lucky. No! Say, God has blessed me. Tell them that God has done it in your life. Tell them that God has given you these gifts.
When you're going through something difficult and people are amazed that you're still getting up in the morning, don't sit back and say, yeah, you know, I'm just really strong. My mom raised me to be really strong. Tell the truth that if had not been for the Lord who was on your side, you never would have made it.
CS Lewis says that humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. We're all going to do things that impress people. And when someone tells you you've done something great, humility isn't pretending it wasn't great. But humility is directing them to the true source of that light. It's saying, thank you. I thank God. It's a gift from God. Because as much as what you do is making an impact on the world, the whole impact you're making, the whole point of it is so that through you they can see Jesus.
So, let's be clarifying lenses. Let's be focused lenses. Let's be magnifying lenses so that people can look at us and forget we're even there while they see the light of Jesus Christ shining through.
It's Christ in us. That's the hope of glory. So, if you're feeling tired today, if you've been spending all this time trying to muster up strength within yourself to make Christmas perfect, to impress your friends or neighbours, buying things they don't need with money you don't have, to impress people you don't even like then I've got good news for you, friends. You don't have to be a light. All you have to do is be a lens. And this is what happens when we do a good job of being a lens. In verse 14, it says, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” What happened next? We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.
You want people to see Jesus? Get out the way. Get yourself where you're supposed to be. Make sure there's no impurity blocking their vision. Make Jesus bigger in your life than you are and with one simple invitation, you'll have them come into the same cross that you did. Not because you're a light, but because you're a lens. Thanks be to God. Amen.