Seeing with Clarity for the First Time

“…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
-John 3:19-20

“…the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
-Matthew 4:16b

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

The gospel is good news for darkness-loving sinners. When God gives sight to the blind light dawns where only darkness was known. In the Incarnation God has turned on the light of the gospel for those whose entire world was comprised of darkness. All we knew was blindness accorded by a world of inky blackness. All we knew and loved was the comfortable envelope of blackness. Several years ago I remember reading a National Geographic article about creatures that live in the depths of caverns. A picture showed a salamander whose eyes has become completely blind because its home was in the depths of darkness. This world was all it knew and its eyes had become useless orbs. Day after day after day no light had broken in to bring functionality to the eye. The salamander knew no difference. Blackness was its home and Its world was one of devoid of all light. In the gospel God has brought light to us. We did not see, nor could we see, nor would we see. We had become acclimated to darkness, because it is all we had ever known. This was the environment we knew and loved. And when the first rays of light come we squint and rub our eyes straining to see for the first time. Could it be that we’ve been so blind for so long? It is as if we’ve entered a whole new world. In the Incarnation God brings light into our darkness. For once in our lives we begin to see with clarity, and this is because God brought light into our darkness.

Grateful for the Light that has come in the Incarnation,

Dan