The Light That Has Lighted the World

Judges 12:1-7
Acts 5:1-12
John 3:1-21

In his conversation with Nicodemus Jesus says that despite the presence of God’s light people have chosen to dwell in the darkness. This is because their deeds were evil (John 3:19), a fact which the light would make visible. Human “evil,” that which makes all of us crave the darkness and not the light, puts us into conflict, not only with God, but also with one another. And even when we think we know the truth, or how to pronounce “the secret word” (Judges 12:6), we are apt to discover that we are clueless. Nicodemus, “a teacher of the people,” didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about, and the high priest and the Saducees were equally “in the dark” as to the message of the gospel (Acts 5:1f). Too often we would rather assail those who don’t know how to “speak the way we do,” than to lay down our weapons and together share the light that has come, not to condemn the world, but that the world may have salvation through it.

The late George Harrison, a former Beatle, was well-known for his adherence to eastern religion. On occasion his spiritual musings sound an awful lot like Christian teachings. In his song “The Light That Has Lighted the World” Harrison speaks of the human tendency toward darkness:

The thoughts in their heads manifest on their brow
Like bad scars from ill feelings they themselves arouse
So hateful of anyone that is happy or “free”
They live all their lives without looking to see
The light that has lighted the world.

The Son came not to condemn the world but to save it. Would we rather live in the light of truth or cower in the darkness that hides our ill will?

Prayer:
Lord, forgive our tendency to divide, to insist that ours is the proper way of speaking or seeing, especially when it sets us at odds with each other and with you. “Heal our warring madness” and “bend our will to your control” that we may live whole lives, as individuals and as communities. Amen.