In His Light We Can Truly See

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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) 

Without Jesus we do not understand Who God is. We also do not understand ourselves either. Humans are born with limited information available to us. We know we exist and that others exist with us, but we do not know our purpose and the meaning of our lives. Without someone telling us, we cannot know. We look around us grasping for value, for direction, and there is no other human who really knows the answer. There are guesses but nothing concrete. 

We also somehow long to become a perfection that we do not consist of and for a likewise perfect world free of darkness and ignorance. We know we are made for more, yet we do not know for what. Theologian Suzanne de Dietrich wrote about this dilemma and the radical answer in the Advent of Jesus:

If God really came, if he took on our human condition, if in our name he overcame all the powers of death, if he freed us from them, then the history of the world is forever changed, it takes on a final meaning. If it is all an illusion, life is still only a race toward death. 

As Christians, we believe we have an answer to the human situation. We believe that Jesus is this window into the ultimate truths about the world and what being human is about. 

John in his gospel calls Jesus “the Light of the world”, this is not merely about mental ascent to propositions about God that Christians believe (although that is true as well). This is about the revelation of God piercing like a flame into the dark night of human existence. Without this flame, we cannot see. This is not about sight with our eyeballs; it is about the unseen eyes of the soul. It is the spiritual part of us knowing definitively that God exists and loves us. In this place, the ultimate questions are answered. 

Although we still do not see reality like God does, we are now forever connected to the One who does see all. We trust Him to navigate through the darkness of unknowing for us, like a ship sailing forward in the pitch blackness of the night. Faith is our response to a good God who is steering our ship. It is a trust in Him and His care, not born of sight but by the perceptions of the soul.  

We perceive God’s nearness and care when the Light reveals Himself to us. These are the moments when the Divine presence is sensed and felt. These are the moments where time is an afterthought, because all our senses are directed at a God who transcends time. Everything changes because God has come close through His Spirit. This what our deepest longings ache for, the touch of God. Without this we languish in Plato’s cave unaware of the loving crucified heart that wants a friendship with us. 

In this place time itself also becomes holy. Holy moments are God moving into the created world of time and space and enlivening it while also defying its entropy. In Jesus’ life the Holy One came as the light and burned bright in a transcendent 3-year ministry. The holy came into time and space and rescued us. He still does, the darkness of all that is crushing and nihilistic about the modern world has not overcome it. It never will.

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