Meditation VII -- Light

"on them a light has dawned."

Mathew notes that John the Baptist had been arrested when Jesus began his preaching ministry. In a time when the powerful may seem to have quashed the voice of God, another voice seems to arise, one that says, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand."

But that voice was always there. It is always here. It will not be silenced, no matter what powers think themselves rulers of the air.

"The people dwelling in darkness," Isaiah said, "have seen a great light." And today I wonder at others, and at myself, who stay in that darkness having caught a glimpse of the Lord.

But why wonder? The darkness is comfortable, warm, easy. Christ's light reveals us for who we are, and who wants that? That light exposes us as the failures and self-centered people we really are, the "good enough" people we want to believe ourselves to be.

Christ's light is not always, however, a mere candle, showing us step by fearful step, out of a dank and cold cave. It has dawned, like a sun, sometimes obscuring what we might not need to see, but always providing the heat and energy and life we need to live in Him. It brings us, after every sleepless, awful night, nothing less than hope.