Light Drives Out Darkness
John 1:1-18[1]
I’m pretty sure that most of us have lost the ability to
appreciate the power of a single candle to bring light into a dark room. We
don’t use candles for light anymore. We use them for decoration, or for the
fragrance they give. We use electricity for lighting, and even a relatively dim
60-watt bulb is the equivalent of 70 candles. And we typically have much more
brighter light going in most rooms of our houses. We have flashlights on our
phones that easily overpower a single candle, and there are some spotlights
that can be positively blinding! We don’t even use candles for emergencies;
instead we buy battery-powered lamps. I’m pretty sure we don’t view a candle as
a source of light any longer.
By contrast, all of the Bible was written in a time when there was
no artificial lighting. Candles and oil lamps were the only sources of light in
the darkness. I think it’s hard for some of us to relate to a world not filled
with artificial light. We’re so dependent on flipping a switch and having
instant light. I would say that many of us aren’t really comfortable with
darkness. It feels oppressive, or depressing, or even frightening. But if you
were to turn off all the light bulbs and try sitting in a room lit only with
candlelight, you might be surprised at the effect.[2]
John’s Gospel presents the good news of Jesus Christ in terms of
light shining in the darkness. Not only do I think that we have difficult
appreciating the light, I think that many of us have a hard time grasping the
darkness of our world. But make no mistake about it: we live in a world full of
darkness. We’re surrounded by it—violence in our schools, poverty that reduces
working people to living in their cars, and racism that sparks hate crimes
against people of color and of different faiths. But the darkness is within as
well. Many in this community live in constant fear. They struggle with
loneliness, depression, and even despair. Then there’s the darkness that exists
in our world on a broader scale, from the corruption of greed to the destruction
of warfare. We live in a dark world.
The good news of our Gospel reading for today is that Jesus came
into this world as light. The light that he brings is called “life,” and it’s
for all people (Jn. 1:4). John’s Gospel wasn’t talking about “life” in terms of
everyday, walking around, living-and-breathing life. The point was that Jesus
came to bring a different quality of living. Rather than living in the darkness
of fear and greed and hatred, Jesus came to bring a quality of living defined
by God’s grace and truth (Jn. 1:14). God’s truth calls us to a life defined by
love—the love Jesus demonstrated by giving his life for us all. God’s grace
assures us that there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more and there’s
nothing we can do to make God love us less. This grace and truth offers us a
quality of living that shines like a light in the darkness.
The phrase in this passage that sticks in my mind is the one that
says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”
(Jn. 1:5). There are some difficulties with this verse, including even how to
translate it.[3]
But I think the more pressing problem we have to deal with is that Jesus, the
light of the world, was brutally executed on a Roman cross. Despite the faith
that Jesus was raised from the dead and lives even now, some still today would
say that the light of God’s grace and truth and love that Jesus brought into
this world has been extinguished by the overwhelming power of darkness in our
world. I think those whose lives have been “overcome” by darkness may have
difficulty putting their faith in Jesus as the “light of the world.”
But you don’t have to have been totally overcome by the darkness
in this world to have known its effect in your life. I would say that most of
us here today have experienced some form of darkness in our lives. Whether it’s
the greed that deprives us of home or career, or the fear that violence in its
many forms can instill, or the anger and even hatred we may feel toward those
whom we see as a threat, we have known the power of darkness. I don’t think the
promise of the gospel here is that we will never have to suffer from the power
of darkness in our world. It is that the darkness, however powerful it may be,
does not overcome the light. I like the way the Good News Bible says it: “The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has never put it out.”
However dark our lives in this world may get, the light of God’s
grace and truth and love in Jesus Christ always shines, and the darkness has
never put it out. The faith, hope, and love that God’s love in Jesus brought
into this world live on in our hearts, no matter what we have to endure. And
the darkness has never put it out. The quality of living that Jesus brought to
us through God’s love is like a candle that gives its light to all in darkness,
and never stops shining. It’s a different kind of light than what were used to.
Candle light is soft, gentle, and reassuring. We may have to look harder for it
in the midst of all the other sources of so-called “light” in our world. But
the light of God’s grace and truth and love is there, a light shining in the
darkness. And that light will continue to drive out the darkness in our world
until there is no more darkness. And the darkness will never put it out.
[1]
©2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/5/2020 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]I
got the idea from Linda Geddes, “What I Learned by Living without Artificial
Light,” BBC Future, April 25, 2018. Accessed at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180424-what-i-learnt-by-living-without-artificial-light.
[3]
Some versions, like the King James, New King James, and New American Standard,
translate the verse, “the darkness did not comprehend it.”
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