Imagine that you were born in a cave. Not only born, but chained to the wall of the cave. Your limbs are immobilized and you can’t move. Your head is also chained and it can’t move around. The only thing you can see is the wall in front of you. The only light that you have comes from a fire that is burning behind you, but you cannot see the fire. The only things you see are shadows being created by the fire, which are reflected on the wall in front of you. When bugs or bats fly in front of the fire, they cast a shadow on the wall, which becomes your reality. You never actually see the bugs or bats, just their shadow. The only human contact that you have comes from your fellow prisoners who are also chained up in the cave. They live the same life and see the same things.

Now imagine that one day, one of these prisoners is released from his chains. What is the first thing he is likely to see? As he turns his head around, he will see that there is a fire behind him that is the source of all the light in the cave. He will quickly discover that the shadows on the wall, that was his reality was actually a shadow or reflection caused by a real living being, whether it be a bug or a bat. As this freed prisoner begins to explore some more, he will quickly discover that there is an exit to this cave, and he begins to explore. The first thing he will see is a great light, the sun, which lights up the world. He will see all kinds of others sights and wonders including other animals, grass, trees, and mountains. What else he will discover is that all that he had known up to this point wasn’t real. The shadows on the wall were not real. The light that he knew was not real. All his experiences were not real.

At this point this freed prisoner can easily run away from the cave and enjoy his freedom. However, this freed prisoner is compelled to enter back into the cave and find his fellow prisoners to tell them all that he has seen. When the freed prisoner tells all those who are chained up about the fire and the shadows and the great light; what will there response be? That question is what underlies this allegory that the Greek Philosopher Plato told over 2500 years ago. While its context is different from our own Christian world, some of the themes can be seen in our Gospel reading.

Our Gospel reading tells the story of man born blind. For many years blindness had been his entire reality. Then one day Jesus appears and gives this man sight. Now, his world has changed, he can see what only his hands had touched. By itself this story is a wonderful one about Jesus and his power of healing. However, there is a lot more to it. Unlike many other stories about Jesus healing in the Bible, it tells about the aftermath. What happened to this man when others noticed that he was healed?

Neighbors began questioning him: How is it that you can see? His response is that Jesus has healed him. The neighbors send him to the Pharisees who also investigate. They routinely ask him questions, call in witnesses, and even question his parents. In the end, because this man could see the truth – that Jesus was the Messiah – the man was kicked out of the synagogue. Rather than see the truth, the Pharisees showed that they too were blind, not physically, but spiritually. They were not all that different from the prisoners chained up in the cave. When someone comes to them telling them the truth about the light, in this case that Jesus is the light of the world, they reject the message. They are happy to remain chained up to the wall and look at the shadows on the wall.

Jesus is the great light that shines through our world darkened by sin. However, many times we are chained up in the cave, unable to see the light of the world – Jesus Christ. What are our chains? Our chains are whatever prevents us from seeing the light of the world. The Pharisees’ chains was their own unbelief and hatred, prevented them from seeing the light of the world. For us our chains are any sins we commit on a daily basis.

When we look at our lives and see our sins and failings, we can always remember that seeing Jesus is the most important thing for happiness. In the allegory at the beginning of the sermon, there was one important detail that I left out, who released the prisoner from his bondage. I think that answer is pretty clear, it was Jesus Christ. Our own chains of sin can not be broken on our own, but rather Jesus is only one who free us from our bondage and sin.

Without Jesus, we would continue to be chained up in our sins and staring at a wall, with shadows as the only reality. But with Jesus, those chains are broken, so we can now know the truth – Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. Outside the darkness of this cave of a world there is so much more. Outside this world is eternal life with Jesus Christ who is the light of the world.