DARKNESS AND LIGHT

Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) minister and author wrote:

“In John 3:19, we’re told that “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” In fact, the wicked person “hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (3:20).

When Jesus teaches that “the light has come into the world” (John 3:19), the reader of John’s Gospel has seen this kind of language before. In John 1:4, Jesus was “the light of men,” in 1:5 this “light shines in the darkness,” and in 1:9 the “true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), and by his incarnation he has come into the world, shining in the darkness with the glory of his person, his teachings, and his mission. This backdrop informs what Jesus teaches in John 3. A major manifestation of people hating the light and loving the darkness is their rejection of Jesus. They don’t just resist some kind of nebulous notion of “light.” They resist the Savior. They don’t just love some ambiguous idea of “darkness.” They cling to wickedness and to their rebellion against God’s Anointed One.

Paul says that God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus