The Light shines in the Darkness, but the Darkness has Not Overcome it. John 1:5
Please read John 13:1-30
I recall with a smile as a small boy the delight I knew, when in secret I managed (somehow) to get my hands on a box of chocolates;-) What a joy it was, and still is, to have at your fingertips a rich asssortment of contrasting light and dark calorific delights. Oh! Decisions, decisions.
Light and dark are the most universally accepted realities. Without light there is darkness. Darkness is simply the absence of light. Think about it for a moment. We pull the curtains back in the morning to let light shine in, so that we might see and realise the warmth it brings. As the light of the day fades to evening, it has no choice but to give way to the darkness and the coolness of night. And so, once again, we draw the curtains to shut out the dark. Light and dark. One holds promise, the other terror. More fundamentally, one symbolises life, the other death.
I recall a friend once telling me, how he and his wife, together with God, had faced the pain of loss through many tears. Taking time away, seeking God in the midst of their sadness, they found themselves alone, in a Christian retreat centre, in a darkened room. As they prayed, they became increasingly aware and fixated upon the flame of the small candle gently dancing upon the table before them. In that moment, my friend told me, ‘God seemed to be saying, the greater the darkness, the brighter even the smallest candle burns.’
Like a perpetual Tug of War, light and darkness always appear to me to vie for power and control. Even Hollywood knows to cast the characters of Light and Darkness in the roles of Good and Evil. Tension is always a present reality when the light strives to chase the darkness away. Light and darkness don’t get on so well, do they, they just seem to tolerate each other.
On that first Passover Thursday, that we call Maundy Thursday, in that Upper Room, reclining at the table, there was Light (Jesus) and there was Darkness (Judas). John 13:30 says that, ‘As soon as Judas had taken the bread (from the hand of Jesus), he went out. And it was night. Those last 4 words – “And it was night.” – are not there by accident. They are there, like ‘the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen’ (Matthew 5:18) by God’s sovereign design and for His glorious purposes.
Like Judas iscariot, then, we too have a decision before us. The result of our choice determines how we will live and how we will die. And most importantly, where and with whom we will spend eternity. Oh! Decisions, decisions. Please! Don’t ever do what Judas did (please see 1 John 2:19). The path of light leads to life; the path of darkness leads to -. You fill in the blank. See Proverbs 14:12.
The verdict is in: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:19-21)
May I encourage you, then, this Easter, to fix your eyes upon the Light; and not the darkness (Hebrews 12:2).
God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).
This Maundy Thursday. In many ways it’s dark. Judas has left the Lord and the remaining disciples to go about his devilish business of deceit and betrayal. But, remember, Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12) and the bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16), still shines. And you and I can choose to shine too, in the light of His glory (2 Corinthians 4:6).
It’s Thursday; BUT SUNDAY’S COMING!!
God bless,
Jeremy
Dalkeith Baptist Church 