“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:4-5). “The light shineth in the darkness” has always seemed self-evident to me. Of course light shines in the dark. That's what light does. But today my brother taught me a deeper meaning to this scripture. The part that makes this scripture a little harder to comprehend is that we use the same word light to describe both the source or the cause of light, and also the emanations or effect of the light. In other words, we might call a fire or a street lamp or the sun a “light” but we also refer to the beams or rays or streams of photons coming off of fires, street lamps, and the sun as “light”. But if we go back to John's statement that the light shineth in the darkness, and consider not the beams of light themselves but the source of the light, then we can understand a deeper meaning of the light shining in darkness. The light source gives all of its light away. It keeps none for itself. Thus, the light, or the light source, shines in the darkness because it does not horde any of the light or keep it to itself. The light doesn't shine for itself, only for others. Everything else gets to enjoy the light coming off of the light source but the light source itself remains in darkness. If this is a little hard to visualize, consider a flashlight. The batteries in the flashlight are the only reason that the light bulb can shine. But the batteries are in the darkness. They don't get to keep any of the light for themselves. All of the light gets shared out to others. If we were to carry this metaphor a little farther, if the lightbulb in the flashlight is the Light of Christ, then our faithfulness in doing good works and serving others and sacrificing our own wants wants and needs is like the batteries in the flashlight that remain in the darkness but nevertheless help the light of Christ to shine out the brighter. It's not a perfect metaphor but I hope that it helps to explain how the light can shine in the darkness. We have each been blessed with the Light of Christ. We are meant to share that light with each other. It is not meant to stay locked up inside of us. A more scientific description of light is that it is radiation. When too much light, or radiation, gets trapped inside of an object, that object becomes radioactive. Radioactive objects do not emit light in safe, shiny ways, but they do still emit light. The light has to get out, and if it can't shine in the normal way, then it is going to escape as invisible destructive radiation. To live with our light trapped inside of us through selfishness or wickedness is to live a half life. If we have closed ourselves off completely to shining our light and sharing our love and bearing one another’s burdens that they may be light and that they may have light, then the light can't get out. But this is the Light of Christ. It is an imperishable flame. If we achieve immortality without having repented and having been cleansed of our sins then that imperishable flame will be trapped inside of us and we will have this lake of fire and brimstone burning inside of us for all eternity. Hell is having the light that we were created to give away freely and constantly for the enjoyment and salvation and glory of all to be trapped inside of us with no way out. But when we follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, then we become cleaner and purer vessels of the Light of Christ, giving every last photon of our light away. When Jesus hung upon the Cross, others mocked him, saying “He saved others, himself he cannot save.” That is because Jesus gave all of His light away and kept none for Himself. As John says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” He gave and gave and gave of His light and His life until there was nothing left. I know that sometimes letting our light shine means that we ourselves are left in darkness. I know that serving our fellow brothers and sisters means that sometimes there is no time or energy left for ourselves and our needs and wants. But we are promised that if we lose ourselves for Christ's sake, then we will find ourselves. If we give all of our light away, the Lord will be our light. I know that every ray of light we send out will be reflected back and magnified tenfold. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38). Let us all measure out our love and our service unstintingly and let us let our light shine out for all to see, even if sometimes it leaves us, for a time, in darkness.
