And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light… Those who do what is true come to the light… (John 3:19-21)
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all… Whoever says “I am in the light”, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness… walks in the dark, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. (I John 1:5; 2:9-10)
So, somewhat in contrast to what we were saying last week, as far as biblical John is concerned, darkness does not have a lot going for it, in fact it is to be avoided, it is to be departed from. He says you will get lost, the dark will make you blind. For the moment let’s just accept that in both Jewish and Christian scriptures, each speaks with two voices on the theme of light and darkness. Here, darkness is not what we want at all. God is light. Jesus is the light of the world – whoever follows him will not walk in darkness. He says his followers are a light set on a hill, presumably in the surrounding dark.
Well, John was writing after one, more likely two generations of experience of church life. Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans and numerous other cultures and nationalities, with their differing customs and folkways and assumptions, had been responding to the message of Christ, becoming followers… and then trying, in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s 20th century words, Gemeinsames Leben… Life Together, in community, in communion. This was not only a matter of living in peace together in the Christian community – it was also relating in peace and love to people, good and bad, beyond the Christian community, often hostile to it… as Jesus taught.
John makes some startling statements. He says people love darkness rather than light. Darkness is more comfortable because it can hide things, it offers denial, deceit and evasion… concealment of the truth. John almost equates light and truth – those who do what is true come to the light. Because they seek what is true they have no fear of the light. Notice also that he says simply what is true… not what may be prescribed in religion, not what we think the Bible says. If it is true, then it is true whether it’s in the Bible or not, whether I feel it or agree with it, or not. To reject what is true, to ignore it, to distort it, is indeed in John’s view to be in the dark… Well, how do I know what is true? That is the point of faith… I am seeking to live truly in the light I can see, so far as it lies with me, seeking the light I can’t see yet or perhaps only glimpse. I am at any rate on the side of truth... and that at times is costly.
John gives us one important practical hint: Whoever says “I am in the light”, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the dark… walks in the dark, and does not know the way to go, because the dark has brought on blindness. Two things here… Hatred, which as we know is generally the child of fear, is a major sign of darkness. And the second is that blindness is its fruit. There are people for whom hatred has become a way of life – or it may be their chronic woundedness, victimhood, reliving memories and injustices -- and they become blinded by the dark they have chosen… and by their fear and anxiety. John says that we learn love, and therefore living in the light, from the indwelling Christ, the Teacher within. He invites us to the way of Jesus… and to the gentle disciplines of letting-go, of living in the present, and of having a heart of love and gratitude.
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