Light in the Darkness ...

Wednesday, December 7, 2011. The Christmas story uses the images of light and darkness to express its message. It says: people walking in darkness saw a great light! What does it mean today?

Darkness as an Image …

What is the darkness, the Bible is taking about? It is the darkness of heart. It is a darkness which does not know right and wrong properly. It is a darkness which does not know what is important - nor does it know what is less important. It is a darkness of not knowing what is there in the world, being in a kind of fake reality!

The bible is analyzing usual human behavior as we have seen it since the beginning of mankind. It is talking about our idea to advance, to be better than others, about war, ignorance, suppression. It is talking about accumulating wealth, about human relationship. It is talking about truth and truthfulness, about reliability, about mutual understanding and help, about the basis of social progress. And, of course, it is talking about God, the creator and living Lord.

Not everything is bad. The biblical criticism of society and of individuals is not speaking against competition or the idea of progress. But the content of what we should compete about and how we should do it, that is the topic of the many books and letters of the biblical collection. It states that we are living in darkness, walking in darkness, we do not see …!

Light in our Life …

Light is an image for when we can see the truth. It is a truth which is much wider and larger than pure natural science. It is a truth of the heart as well, a truth of goals, a truth of relationships, the truth of God being there all the time, the hidden God, but also the obvious God, talking and showing himself.

There is a great light coming, that refers to Jesus, born as a baby in Bethlehem. He is the light, also called the truth and the way. He is the light since the way he is living, the way he exists, is so full of the light we have been talking about above, that we need to call him the light himself. He not only speaks the truth, but as the son of God he IS the truth. He is not only living in the light, he IS the light.

Is the light of Jesus in our life? Is he there? Or are we just knowing about his existence, without any personal consequences, without being touched by him? Perhaps we admire him, or we even attend some church, but he never reached our own heart with his truth? When he does, our priorities will change, and we will realize that there is a huge light! With eyes wide open we will discover a new world! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts