From the opening prologue of the gospel of John, the evangelist introduces the theme of light and darkness.  The Word of God becomes flesh and makes the life of God and his works  visible to us all through his human life and appearance.  This life of God that has become visible in Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh, is a light that shines in the darkness of the world.  The light shines into the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.  Jesus the Christ is the light of the world and his light can penetrate and dispel the darkness of sin and even death itself.  The light that shines in Jesus is the very life of God that God the Father desires to share with all of his children.  He desires that we all become children of the light and live in the light of His love for us.  As Paul reminds us in Ephesians, if we are children of the light then we must live in the light and allow the light to shine in our lives through deeds of light.  We cannot profess to be followers of Jesus and children of God and continue at the same time to live in darkness, practice deeds of darkness and spread darkness around ourselves by our actions and attitudes.  We must desire to live in the light and bring everything that we are and do to the light.  There is nothing hidden or shameful in our lives.  We are not keeping any deep, dark secrets.  We are not walking around in a perpetual bad mood.  To live in the light means to act in a way that is consistent with light and to carry an attitude of joy and peace throughout the world.

     In the gospel of John, John further develops this truth that Jesus is the light of the world.  With the light of Christ in our lives, we who once were blind can now see.  The Christian journey is a journey into the light, the full light of the truth, the full light of knowledge of Jesus the Christ, the full light of the love of God manifest in Jesus.  As we continue the journey of faith, with Jesus as our companion and guide leading us deeper and deeper into the truth, we begin to see, and therefore believe, things that we had never seen before.  Our journey arrives at its destination when we see the full glory of God the Father revealed in Jesus and are moved to prostrate ourselves in worship before him.

     In chapter 9 of John’s gospel, Jesus encounters the man born blind who is presumed to be a great sinner or whose parents perhaps are great sinners explaining his blindness.  A few years ago I met a young woman who was homeless and therefore had concluded that it must be God’s will that she be homeless.  We often make this mistake that the disciples of Jesus make today.  If there is evil then it is God’s will that there be evil and therefore God is responsible for the evil and suffering that is in the world today.  Clearly throughout the scripture we see that time and time again God does not will suffering, loss or death.  His will is for salvation and is manifested in acts of love, kindness, compassion and mercy.  Jesus redirects the disciples to see that this situation is an opportunity for God to manifest his glory.  In a sense I think that Jesus is entreating us to break out of a very human weakness in which we curse the darkness but do nothing about it.  Don’t curse the darkness, just turn on the light, walk in the light and bring light to others.

     We are all persons born blind because of original sin.  Through the waters of baptism we can be washed clean of original sin and be born anew in the light of life.  We have no need to curse the darkness or to allow others to draw us back into the darkness through their doubt.  We are children of the light, we can see through the eyes of faith what is true and we can profess the truth that Jesus is Lord.  Don’t listen to the naysayers in life who have explanations to explain away any marvel or joy we might experience and who want us to join them in their doubt, unbelief and therefore blindness.  We have reason for joy.  We see, we know, we believe.