Light in the Darkness || A Grinchy Christmas || Part 3

We often hear that Jesus doesn’t come to remove the darkness in our lives but instead lights the darkness. Some may say, “Is that the same thing?” “Does the darkness come back after the light goes away?” The dark doesn’t always represent something terrible. Instead, it helps us readjust our focus to see what’s happening around us even though we may not see it. The Grinch seems to be dealing with his darkness in trying to ruin Christmas for an entire town. Maybe that’s why he stole the lights off the tree? Either way, let’s dive into things:

John 1:9 says this: “The true Light was coming into the world. The true light gives light to all.” In this opening section of John 1, there are five verses in a row that John mentions the light. He mentions how the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overpowered the light. John came to tell people about the light and that through him, all people could hear about the light and believe. John wasn’t the light, but he prepared people for the light.

This verse is such a bright section of scripture to me. I want to take a couple of these mentions and expand on them.

I touched on the topic earlier about Light shining through the darkness. Think about Genesis 1 and the whole creation story. What did God create on Day 1? Light and dark. One not overpowering each other, in fact ruling a 50/50 power dynamic. It’s light for one-half of the day and dark for the other half. The dark doesn’t overpower the light, but the light shines through the dark. When we enter a room first, it’s dark. We can’t see what’s in front of us. If it’s a standard room, we know what’s in there and where things are, but we don’t get clarity until we turn the light on in the room. Then things come into focus.

John mentions that he wasn’t the light himself. I found that kind of humorous in preparing this message because John’s purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival. He let us know that the light was coming, and we were to prepare ourselves. How many of us go traveling and know that we are coming back to leave the porch light on at night? I always found that odd as a kid. We’re coming back to the place we live and live forever. Why do we need a reminder that this is where we live? It prepares us for when we come home. It lets us see the door handle so we’re not fumbling through our keys in the dark. It helps us see if anything looks off or someone may have broken in. Again, the light prepares us for what’s to come.

Then our focus verse, the light came to the world and gave light to all. I remember those days of working on something in the classroom at college. They were time-sensitive, so the lights would go off if you weren’t moving for an extended time. As it got closer to class time and more people came in, the lights came back on. They didn’t turn back on just for me, but everyone stayed on until after class was over. The lights are in here, and believe me when I say the lights are on. We turn the lights on here for everyone preparing for worship and those who attend worship. After everyone goes home, the lights go off. We take the Light of Christ out of church after service to send it out.

Has this made sense for anyone? If not, here’s what I’m driving home. The world can be dark. Based on what I see on social media and the news, the world is full of darkness and dark souls, but the light shines through it all. The light brings focus on things that we didn’t see because of the darkness. The light helps us to prepare for the darkness ahead of us. The light is for all people. When we leave this building after worship, it’s our job to share the light with any darkness in front of us. Amen.