Dark & Light
I used to be scared of the dark. Who wasn’t, I guess. My kids have a nightlight in the hall outside their rooms. My wife and I used to close our boy’s door before he was two, and I remember listening outside his door one night while he was still awake. There he was, in the dark, and he was singing a little unintelligible song. All the more, he was in a crib – which is a cage for babies really. So, locked up, in a dark place, my son could still sing. But not now. He needs the door open and that little 15 watt bulb glowing in the hall. It brings me back to when I was afraid.
I don’t remember how old I was, but one day I didn’t want to be afraid of the dark anymore. In light of that, a plan was put into action. Simple, really: Find the darkest place I can, and stay there until I’m not scared anymore. The house I lived in at the time had a basement and then a kind of sub-basement as well. It was a half-floor lower on that side of the house. It also had what you call a “fruit cellar”. It was a long closet with shelves – a cold storage that ran the length of one of the walls down there. It had a regular door-size entrance at the one side and no opening on the other. It was pretty dark in there. So, I went down to the 1st basement, turned out the light at the top of the stairs, felt my way down to the 2nd basement, and into the cold storage I crept.
It was quiet. It was dark. It was scary. Visions of hands reaching out at me and zombie faces closing in rushed at me. But I sat there. I started to listen. I could hear the hum of electricity and footsteps in the distance above. The air in that kind of a space has a sound to it as well. My little movements reverberated against the cement – I shuffled a bit to get comfortable. It’s amazing, but I got less scared the longer I stayed. I’m not sure exactly how long it took, but I got up and felt my way back upstairs. It was nice to see again.
Many significant events in the life of Jesus occurred at night. Here are a few: his birth in the stable along with the angels singing to the shepherds and the journey of the wisemen, when he walked on the water, when he said “For God so loved the world…” to Nicodemus, when he prayed in the garden and on the mountain, and when he broke bread with his disciples. More than these, remember that the sun was darkened in the middle of the day while he was on the cross.
Christ came as the “light of the world” and often chose darkness to contrast that light. He did not leave that place untouched by his presence. He came walking on the water, in the dark of night, to his disciples who would think he was a ghost – a specter to be feared. But he spoke with that voice that could not be mistaken and said, “Don’t be afraid – It’s me.” Their fear was not displaced because of some rationalization on their part, but simply because of the presence of Jesus. He was that perfect love that “casts out all fear”.
The dark will never be the same now. Jesus has touched down here and did not shy away from the unlit world. On that cross the sun fled while the Lord Jesus took on the wrath of an offended God. What was the sun compared to the Son of God shining with a love that pierced the blackness of sin? Death died that day. Life slept in the dark of the tomb and rose gloriously on the third day. If he can make the grave bright, what can he not make shine? That’s IT – I’m turning off MY nightlight tonight!
BJ
I don’t remember how old I was, but one day I didn’t want to be afraid of the dark anymore. In light of that, a plan was put into action. Simple, really: Find the darkest place I can, and stay there until I’m not scared anymore. The house I lived in at the time had a basement and then a kind of sub-basement as well. It was a half-floor lower on that side of the house. It also had what you call a “fruit cellar”. It was a long closet with shelves – a cold storage that ran the length of one of the walls down there. It had a regular door-size entrance at the one side and no opening on the other. It was pretty dark in there. So, I went down to the 1st basement, turned out the light at the top of the stairs, felt my way down to the 2nd basement, and into the cold storage I crept.
It was quiet. It was dark. It was scary. Visions of hands reaching out at me and zombie faces closing in rushed at me. But I sat there. I started to listen. I could hear the hum of electricity and footsteps in the distance above. The air in that kind of a space has a sound to it as well. My little movements reverberated against the cement – I shuffled a bit to get comfortable. It’s amazing, but I got less scared the longer I stayed. I’m not sure exactly how long it took, but I got up and felt my way back upstairs. It was nice to see again.
Many significant events in the life of Jesus occurred at night. Here are a few: his birth in the stable along with the angels singing to the shepherds and the journey of the wisemen, when he walked on the water, when he said “For God so loved the world…” to Nicodemus, when he prayed in the garden and on the mountain, and when he broke bread with his disciples. More than these, remember that the sun was darkened in the middle of the day while he was on the cross.
Christ came as the “light of the world” and often chose darkness to contrast that light. He did not leave that place untouched by his presence. He came walking on the water, in the dark of night, to his disciples who would think he was a ghost – a specter to be feared. But he spoke with that voice that could not be mistaken and said, “Don’t be afraid – It’s me.” Their fear was not displaced because of some rationalization on their part, but simply because of the presence of Jesus. He was that perfect love that “casts out all fear”.
The dark will never be the same now. Jesus has touched down here and did not shy away from the unlit world. On that cross the sun fled while the Lord Jesus took on the wrath of an offended God. What was the sun compared to the Son of God shining with a love that pierced the blackness of sin? Death died that day. Life slept in the dark of the tomb and rose gloriously on the third day. If he can make the grave bright, what can he not make shine? That’s IT – I’m turning off MY nightlight tonight!
BJ
posted by BJ at 9:16 a.m.
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