John 1:5

The Light of which I speak shines in the darkest of places, but the people living in this darkness that the Light dispels fail to understand anything the Light reveals.  John 1:5 EFP

There are few people who prefer the darkness to the light.  Most people try to avoid the darkness for their own good.  In fact, I am not too fond of the darkness myself.  I don’t know if it because of the scary stories I heard growing up about evil things that lurk in the dark or the life lessons I learned about bumping into sharp corners and the painful toe-stubbing outcroppings that remain unseen in the absence of light. 

When God begins the week of creation the first thing He creates is light.  Although He could have worked in the dark, he chooses to work in the light when he initiates the creative work of this world’s genesis.  Into this void the light of God illumines the pitch black world with no shape or form.  When the light of God bursts into this earthly realm, nothing remains the same.  The world is transformed—animate and inanimate objects come into being by the power of the Word’s divine will.  Light reveals color and hue and nuance and texture—it is a myriad of shapes and sizes and gestures and functions.  Light reveals what is there before anything created is called into existence.

Yet in this text the apostle John restates this Light—the Word and Verb of God, once again fills the world with light.  The Light reveals things that had previously been hidden or obscured by ignorance and prejudice.  Misconceptions about God are rampant and God is dishonored.  The Word has come to shed light where only darkness has reigned prior to His arrival.  But the text ends with the sad declaration, “they fail to recognize the light.”  They miss the point of His coming.  They misunderstand His message.  They close their eyes to the light and miss the salvation that has arrived with His coming.   Don’t miss it yourself.  Open your eyes to the light!