The Light of the World

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about light lately. I have some of those cactus plants that bloom in the winter. We call them Christmas cactuses, but some of them start blooming around Thanksgiving, and a few go all the way to Easter. These plants set their buds, I am told, according to the light they get. For this reason, it’s good to put them outside for a while in the summer. I did this one year with a large plant, and as soon as I brought it inside, it began to bud. That was the best I’ve ever seen it do! (Now that I no longer have an old Tomcat hanging around on the porch, the squirrels nibble on my cactus if I put it out there.)

I read an article around the time of the winter solstice that detailed the way light returns to us during the winter months—slowly at first and then in larger increments right up to the vernal equinox. It’s exciting to watch. Even if you aren’t a sky watcher, you know how vital light is, not only to plants but to the health and wellbeing of people.

Back before Christmas, we attended an assortment of seasonal presentations. Two of our granddaughters attend one of the magnet schools in town, and their program was all about Holidays Around the World. Once class did a presentation about Israel and discussed Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights during which Jewish families light the eight candles of the menorah to commemorate an ancient miracle. Another group sang “Santa Lucia,” whose name actually means light, and told the story of a young woman who came bearing gifts and wearing a wreath of candles on her head. Over and over during the program, there were references to light overcoming darkness, and I thought of Jesus’s words “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). In another place, he said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

If you listened to Handel’s Messiah during the Christmas season, you heard these words from Isaiah 9:2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”

Jesus told Nicodemus, “This is the condemnation: that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Jesus brings life and warmth and cheer—all the things we associate with light—and he intends for his followers to carry his message of hope to the dark world we live in.

All over the world, people know that light is associated with goodness. For centuries, different people groups have celebrated the coming of the light in different ways, but we who know Jesus know the source of all light—both physical and metaphorical. As we watch the days grow gradually longer over these next weeks, let’s rejoice that our God created such a beautiful and orderly world. And may the increased light be a reminder to us to tell our friends and neighbors about the true Light of the world who can give them hope both in this life and in the life to come.

--Sherry Poff