The Light Shines On (2)

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According to tradition Advent begins in darkness. Churches that practice Advent according to historical tradition do not display any typical Christmas decor until Christmas Day.

Traditional Advent Scripture readings focus on God’s judgment. The mood is deliberately dark.

As one writer suggests,

Advent is designed to show that the meaning of Christmas is diminished to the vanishing point if we are not willing to take a fearless inventory of the darkness…It requires courage to look into the heart of darkness, especially when we are afraid we might see ourselves there…

Fleming Rutledge, ADVENT: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018) 252, 253.

The Light Shines On

(Read John 1:1-5)

I admit - it’s a little confusing. The season of Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar. And Advent is observed during December which is the last month of the calendar year.

So, are we beginning or ending?

All four of the biblical books identified as ‘Gospels’ share the events of Jesus’ life.

Matthew and Luke share details of Jesus’ birth and early life.

Mark dives right in with the message of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus.

The Gospel of John starts in a completely different place:

“In the beginning…”

The Jews labeled the books of the OT differently than we do. For example, the book of Exodus is titled ‘These are the names…’

John’s first words deliberately recall the Hebrew Bible’s first book - ‘In the Beginning…’

There are two significant reasons John begins his gospel this way:

a). Jesus, the subject of John’s gospel, is God.

Sit with that a moment.

For an observant, first-century Jew, God was more than simply an idea or concept. Rather, God - who names Himself (see Ex 3) - is One who reveals Himself as a person.

He reveals Himself as One who invites us into a personal relationship with Him.

He makes Himself known as He acts on behalf of His people.

b). ‘The Word’ as John describes Jesus, is with, or in the presence of God.

See Ian A. McFarland, From Nothing: A Theology of Creation (Louisville, KY: Westminster Jon Knox Press, 2014), pp. 89 - ff.

Because Jesus, ‘the Word’ is with God, in the presence of God, He is engaged in all God has done and is doing.

John 1:3 HCSB

All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

This Jesus, who called followers such as John, who healed disease, who restored life, who overcame the adversary is not some super-man.

This Jesus, whom John describes later as

John 1:14 HCSB

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In Him was life

As co-creator (along with the Holy Spirit - see Gen 1:2) Jesus is responsible for giving ‘life.’ For the observant Jew, ‘life’ usually meant what they would experience in the world to come.

As John uses the word ‘life’ he includes this present experience because in Jesus (the Word who was with God, the One who is God, the One through whom all things are created) life as God promises for eternity is available now!

That light was the life of humans

Life - the physical vitality of beings, the vitality that characterizes God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is given to us by God/Jesus/Holy Spirit.

Genesis 2:7 HCSB

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

The man’s ‘life’ came directly from the breath of God. Later, in Genesis 2, God hand makes Eve from Adam’s rib - and brings her to life .

Both man and woman owe the origin of their life to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit.

This life - directly from the activity of God - is described by John as ‘the light of men/women.’

It is not our life that is the light. It is the life that God imparts through creation that as one writer notes,

“the light of humans” refers to a capacity for love and understanding given to every human being at birth. Despite the strong Johannine emphasis on another birth, “of God” (1:13) or “of the Spirit” (3:6) or “from above” (3:3), the testimony of verse 4 is that physical birth is also a source of “light” from God.

J. Ramsey Michaels, The Gospel of John, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 55–56.

That light shines …and is not overcome.

Did you notice that in vs 4 John wrote, ‘that life WAS the light’ of humans - PAST TENSE?

Vs 5 John writes, ‘The light shines…’ - PRESENT TENSE.

John’s first statement, paraphrased by one commentator:

the Word: he is/was preexistent (he “already existed”), he enjoys a special relationship “with God,” and he is the Deity

Grant Osborne, Philip W. Comfort, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 13: John and 1, 2, and 3 John (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), 22.

In the beginning,

Genesis 1:2 HCSB

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Here John draws attention not the the darkness but to the light which penetrates/shines on in the darkness.

Notice John’s use of the word ‘light’

John 1:4 (HCSB)

Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men.

John 1:5 (HCSB)

That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:9 HCSB

The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

When John was writing his account of Jesus’ life, darkness was truly dark.

Certainly oil lamps and flaming torches were common sights in homes and probably around town squares.

But homes, once the oil lamps were extinguished, knew ‘darkness’ in ways we don’t.

Of course John also refers to a darkness that is common to al humans - regardless of whether or not they have access to electricity.

There is a darkness that is spiritual, emotional, and often accompanied by physical manifestations.

John endeavors to communicate that in Jesus - whose life is the light of humanity - light penetrates even the darkest places.

The light, which is one of the three essences John assigns to God -

John 4:24 (HCSB)

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

1 John 1:5 (HCSB)

Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.

1 John 4:8 (HCSB)

The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love

the light of Jesus’ life cannot be overwhelmed by any darkness.

In Genesis the very first words of God are:

Genesis 1:3 HCSB

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

In the last book of the NT, The Revelation of Jesus Christ near the end of John’s writing we read:

Revelation 21:23 (HCSB)

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.