Lights in Dapitan, Zamboanga Del Norte
I used to be afraid of the dark. As a child, I feared to let even a toe hang over the side of my bed at night lest the monsters beneath grab me and pull me under. I didn’t know about nightlights so I laid frozen until I drifted off to sleep.
John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” From Science, we learn that the rod and cone cells in the human retina play an important part in processing light. If there is no light, the sensors are not stimulated and perceive darkness. If there is light and a person sees nothing, well, something’s wrong.
The problem John mentions isn’t the light. This is no ordinary light. It’s THE LIGHT — a light that never fades, that can’t be snuffed out, blown out or extinguished. It’s a light that isn’t powered by battery cells that run down. It can’t be switched off or eclipsed. It always gives its light unlike a black hole greedily gobbling up the light of neighboring stars.
Jesus is the light. His birth was announced by a radiant cloud of singing angels renting the night sky as they entered time and space on a cold shepherd’s night. A star so bright stirred wise men to pack their bags with gold, myrrh, and frankincense and trek the middle eastern desert to worship a new king.
But the light and darkness John refers to, go deeper than these physical manifestations announcing the Savior’s birth and the darkness that rouses children’s fears.
John’s gospel described the world’s spiritual state as darkness. The problem is sin. Sin damaged man’s spiritual rod and cone cells when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The world hasn’t changed much since then. People still disobey and grope in the dark.
Impediments such as poverty, abuse, and injustice prevent some from perceiving the Light. Others simply choose not to understand because of pride. But the vision problem doesn’t diminish the fact that Jesus proclaims freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18).
Are you afraid of the dark? Do trials, circumstances and misunderstandings get you down? Jesus said, “Take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). That erases my adult fears of darkness and puts the “Merry” into Christmas!
© 2011 David Harlen Brooks | All rights reserved.
