In the Gospel of John, more than the other gospels, the apostle mentions light and darkness as a metaphor for spiritual realities. He contrasts the coming of Jesus into the world as light coming into darkness ...
John 1:4-10 (NIV)
“In Him [the word become flesh] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.”
Now, we all know that when you light a match in a pitch-dark room, that one little match dispels a lot of surrounding darkness – way out of all proportion to its physical size. Light is incredibly powerful – remember I said that. John says several things here about Jesus; He is the light of all humanity, and His has affected the world. In 2000 years the light of Jesus Christ has not been overcome by all the darkest darkness in this world. That light still shines in this present darkness … John also states here that the world did not recognise the light when Jesus came. Now, on a natural level, that seems to make no sense at all. Everyone (except, perhaps, a blind person) can see light. It is so very obvious, clear, discernible and a very stark contrast to pitch darkness. But the light of Christ is a different thing, and John uses the light metaphor to make a point about life’s reality. The world is full of spiritual darkness so thick that we are not even aware of it, but it is there. When Christ came as spiritual light He began to displace a lot of spiritual darkness – and the darkness reacted variously. The darkness did not understand it, and resisted the light as much as it could.
Jesus, the Christ, is the means, or medium, by which God, Himself, goes forth into creation, and providence and redemption. The life of God was stored in the human nature and body of Jesus, when the Word became flesh, that it might more readily pass into us. As the apostle Paul proclaimed …
Colossians 2:9 (NIV) “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, …”
God is life, the source of life and the imparter of life. If we understand this life as light and the darkness as death, we begin to understand much more of what John is saying. As Prof. F. B. Meyer once remarked “True life is always light, as the minute infusoria of the oceans are phosphorescent. When we receive Christ’s life, we shine.” This is what John means when he says, “9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” John also says that when Jesus did come, the world did not recognise Him. I struggle to comprehend that statement. Something as powerful as light, of true life, is that so hard to see? Really? Well, yes … the issue with darkness here is actually spiritual blindness and it is incredibly thick and resistant. Blindness is another of John’s metaphors.
The story of the man blind from birth in John chapter 9 is not only a true story but a parable about humanity’s spiritual blindness. Jesus miraculously heals him as a demonstration of the power of the life of God in Him. The man’s friends and family have an enormous battle believing that he can finally see. They struggle to believe even though the man is standing right before them with 20-20 vision. Some refuse to accept that it is the same man, “No, can’t be! He only looks like the blind guy!” Such upheaval. Such unbelief. Such blindness! A great bruhaha ensues with the Pharisees coming to investigate and demanding to know how this man can see for the first time. They roughly and rudely interrogate him all day long. The man keeps pointing to Jesus as the one who opened his eyes, yet they cannot accept this – it does not fit their paradigm for God. They hurl insults at the man rather than praise God … because there is so much darkness and blindness in them, they cannot see the light, or the life of Christ that has so profoundly touched this man. In the end they throw him out of the synagogue – because God did a miracle.
Their blindness is so profound that they prefer to believe Jesus is a sinner, rather than being from God! They prefer to view the miracle as something devilish rather than the result of God’s kindness, grace and powerful life. They are religious people who would be more content with sickness and dysfunction rather than delight in healing and wholeness. Why? Because somewhere beneath that kind of dysfunctionality and blindness is the perverted desire to be in control of one’s dysfunctionality, or to weaponise it in order to manipulate instead of taking the great responsibility to be whole and properly functioning as a human being. Yes, there is a strange and twisted logic to that, I know.
This is the spiritual darkness of the world. But it has not overcome the light. Jesus heard that man he had healed and been thrown out of the synagogue. He goes and finds this man and asks,
John 9:35-37 (NIV) "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
This man was helped by Jesus to “see” the light of humanity, and he comes to faith that day. Yet, so many around him saw Jesus, saw the miracle, or the results of it, but not the light and not the life. Their blindness remains ... and we see from all this how powerful and resistant is spiritual blindness. And it is in churches, too. And this is why the gospel must be preached honestly and without modification.
We live a world every bit as blind as the world into which Jesus came. And yes, it is so hard to open the eyes of the blind even today, but we keep going that some might see as we bear witness to the light and see the life of Jesus in us. We must not give up. God is willing that none should perish, we should be as willing and keep testifying about the life.
John 10:41-42 (NIV) “… and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.”
It’s tough out there, but we keep testifying to the light – the life of Jesus which we carry around in “clay jars” …
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
Be encouraged. Keep testifying … some will hear and come to the light!
Ps Milton