Weekly devotional: Light and dark

16 Oct 2017

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:15–17, TNIV)

Our world is filled with light and dark, and the latter seems to be winning lately. The flood of the #metoo statements in our social media feeds brings us sadness and pain. Governments seem corrupt; racism and classism seem to increase; we lose heart. We need the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, that those living in darkness would see a great light. We need Jesus to come.

Darkness and light have levels of meaning in Scripture. Darkness implies a place where evil reigns. It nurtures anger, violence, adultery, and other sins of the flesh, as well as bitterness, pride, envy, greed and other sins of the spirit. The shadow of death closes in on the living, extinguishing all in its path.

But God coming to earth through his son Jesus is the light that dispels all darkness and fear. As King David echoes in the Psalms, “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?” (27:1) With the coming of Jesus, no longer are we oppressed by the grey or black.

In our fallen world, however, we still have the darkness. I remember when our community in North London was rocked by the news of a sexual assault in our local park. “Never in my sixteen years here have I heard of such a thing,” said one mother at the school gate. Where people don’t know Jesus, darkness will lurk – even in our carefully cultivated public spaces.

We can respond with bitterness or anger, or we can work to spread Christ’s light, receding the darkness, bit by bit. As Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, “You are all children of the light and children of the day… Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet” (1 Thessalonians 5:5, 8).

May we not lose hope.