We use the word “light” frequently as metaphor.
We speak of having “seen the light.” We say that “something just dawned on me.” We ask people to “see the light of reason.” Another expression we use is “a light bulb just went off.” When we want to speak of someone’s demise in a fight we will say, “he went lights out.”
On the cusp of WW I the British Foreign Sec’y, Sir Edward Gray, seeing the darkness that was descending on Europe was reputed to have said,
“The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”
The notion of “light vs. darkness,” runs throughout our literature. The Titan Prometheus, stole fire itself from Olympus to give its warmth and light to humanity and was eternally punished. In the Vampire story “Nosferatu,” the Vampire, “Orlok” must sleep by day, as sunlight would kill him. Tolkien, in his Trilogy, found the giving of the gift of Galadriel to Frodo, “The Light of Eärendil.” It was intended to be a light to Frodo in dark places, when all other lights go out. C. S. Lewis played with the theme in his book, “The Silver Chair,” as the heroes were trapped in the dark underworld and were seeking to get back to the light of the world.
In Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” light and darkeness symbolize the opposing forces of God and Satan. Milton opens book Three with this invocation,
… Since God is light,
And never but unapproached light
dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in three,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate
… thou, celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight
For Milton, the absence of light in Hell and in Satan himself represents the absence of God and his grace.
behold the throne
Of Chaos and his dark pavillon spread
Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthroned
Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things
The consort of his reign
This theme is even played out in a small scale fashion in that favorite of Christmas Stories, Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Dickens tells us of Scrooge’s struggle with the ghost of Christmas Past,
Scrooge] turned upon the Ghost, and […] wrestled with it.
“Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!”
In the struggle, if that can be called a struggle in which the Ghost with no visible resistance on its own part was undisturbed by any effort of its adversary, Scrooge observed that its light was burning high and bright; and dimly connecting that with its influence over him, he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head.
The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole
Scrooge’s Darkness was disturbed by the Spirit’s light and so must be extinguished.
Mozart’s greatest opera, “The Magic Flute” played with ideas of light and darkness throughout.
In my own lifetime a US President invoked the Light narrative to describe America
“America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”
It was more believable in 1980.
Of course this theme of Light vs. Darkness in the West was merely picked up from Scripture.
In the Genesis record God said, “Let their be light” (Gen 1:3) and that light appears overcoming the darkness, saturating the creation realm with God’s authority. In the Gospel accounts Christ is the Redemptive light come to inaugurate a new age, a new realm, and a glorious new day as from the Father of lights (James 1:17). Indeed, even in the announcement of Christ the glory of the Lord shines so brightly around the Shepherds that they are “sore afraid.” Christ is the new covenant age light that shines in the darkness (John 1:5). The Apostles saw He who was the radiance of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:1) as the glory of the One and only who came from the Father (John 1:1-4). As the age to come Light, the followers of the Lord Christ never walk in darkness (John 8:12). Christ as the Redemptive light of the age to come demonstrated and revealed itself with a white hot intensity at the transfiguration wherein even His clothing became dazzling white (Mark 9:1-4). In the crucifixion He who is “the Light of the World” is snuffed out and as on cue, the light goes out for three hours Christ (Matthew 27:45) on earth. Light is picked up again in John’s Revelation wherein John the Revelator falls as dead as before a super nova God-man (Rev. 1:14-17). Finally, as the Scripture started with light, it forms an inclusio by ending with He who is the light, as it closes with the motif of Christ as thelight which illuminates the new Jerusalem. He who ever was very light of very light remains the light of the world (Rev. 22:4).
When you read John’s Gospel especially keep your eyes peeled for this motif. St. John plays with it through out his Gospel.
Light and Darkness…. Darkness and light.
May we not say that Light stands for knowledge, understanding and Wisdom — those virtues which can only come from the Triune God of the Bible. While Darkness is that which would snuff out every particle of light in favor of ignorance, lies, and the meaninglessness of Nihilism.
And here we find ourselves in this narrative still as yet unfinished. As Christians, we are, as the Scripture teaches, children of the light who are to walk in the light as God Himself is in the light. We are to let our light so shine before men that they will see our good works and so glorify God. We are told how silly it is to hide our lights under a basket. We now find ourselves in a contest with the 21st century version of the chaos and dark night that Milton spoke about in Paradise Lost. Our speech is monitored by social pressure so that we may not speak so as to shine the light of truth on the darkness that is called “Critical theory,” “political correctness” and “multiculturalism.” In this upside down world, the Darkness seeks to shame us for being light. It insists that it is the light and that light is darkness and we should keep our micro-aggression to ourselves.
Whole theories of Darkness have been developed. From Nihilism and Existentialism to Post-modernism and Critical theory, these theories of Darkness would plunge the world back into the dark night of the soul. There is a need for the light of Biblical Christianity, perhaps now more than ever. There is a need for the people of Christ to reflect His light to a dark and desperate world.
Instead, we are told that the “virtue of tolerance” means that we must not shine the light… we must not speak the truth … we must not insist on absolute truth. But now more than ever we must shine the light. We must be children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.
Knowing that, will you not, People of God, continue to shine among the darkness like stars in the sky?
