The Night the Lights Went Out - Or Did They?

Had I been there, I surely would have thought that darkness had won. For it was in that perfect, filled- with-Light world, spoken into existence by the Word  - apart from whom nothing has come into being -that Adam picked that filled-with-darkness and seemingly damning piece of fruit. I know, had I been there, that I would have thought it was “the night the lights went out in Eden.”

After all, both our ancient ancestors were paraded out of the garden. Adam would earn his living by the sweat of his brow in a world of thorns and thistles. Eve would face the pain of childbirth and live under the rule of her husband.  Before you know it, Cain kills his brother Abel; the flood of Noah all but wipes out the whole of creation, and war, hatred, distrust, and nationalism are born at Babel.

Yes, I’m thinking it looks like darkness caught up to the light and snuffed it out.

But there is that little word about a bruised heel and crushed head and before you know it, a promise is made to a good-as-dead couple about a baby and a blessing and the stars in the sky and the sand on the sea shore. Maybe the lights didn’t go out after all?

Next thing you know – at least if you’re thinking about time like the Word who created time tends to think – another baby is born and the crushed head will be on the land fill of lights-out depravity. The light maker Himself, the life that is the light of men, will come and push open the gates of Eden.

Here’s how John saw it – “and the light in the darkness is shining, and the darkness did not catch up to it.” That, apparently, is the point of view of the Word who was there.

The season of Advent and Christmas remind us on a regular basis that no matter what the circumstances might be, there is no “the night the lights went out” for the people of God. Advent’s gospel text on the first Sunday of this season of hope and preparation reminded us of a day when God will, without fail, make all things as they should be. Soon Christmas Day will remind us that God has taken the one necessary step to make it possible for a day to come when God will make all things right. 

But in the midst of it all, we are living in one of those periods in human history where sometimes it seems as though “the darkness did catch up to the light.” It would be difficult to argue that we aren’t in difficult days. Yet, the beautiful, simple words of the opening of John declare, “and the light in the darkness is shining, and the darkness did not catch up to it.”

What if, instead of focusing on all the signs of darkness that surround us, we determined to spend these days of Advent and Christmas reminding ourselves of all the places where we see a little light shining? What if we reminded ourselves that God has promised that the darkness will never snuff out the light – the light is shining!

It’s a cloudy day in Georgia where I am writing these words.  It has been cloudy for several days, and the forecast is that it will continue much of the week. It “feels like” the sun will never shine again – yet we all know that it will. There is this “law of nature” that means inevitably it will clear up and the bright sun will show its face again.

Perhaps John is reminding us that there is this “law of the Spirit” that suggests no matter how dreary life may seem, and how hard it is to see even a glimpse of light – “the light is shining in the darkness.”

Had I been there? I have been, actually, and have discovered that the Word was indeed right.