Advent 1

Light and dark.
Light and dark.
The gospel accounts are full of light and dark.
Events that happen at night, under the cover of darkness:
Jesus, walking on the water, his disciples terrified;
Jesus, sought out in secret by Nicodemus;
Jesus, arrested, illegally; tried, illegally;
Jesus, crucified, the sky turned dark in the middle of the day…

Blind men, who see…
…men who can see, who are blind.

And Jesus’ words about himself:
revealing and concealing his identity
in the same moment.
Light and dark.

I thought that it was clear:
That for those who believed, this was
revelation;
and for those who did not believe, this was
concealment.

But I was wrong.
The contrast is not between
those who walk in darkness and cannot see,
and those who walk in the light, and can.
The contrast is between
those who walk in darkness and cannot see,
and those who are blinded by the light, and walk by faith not sight…


The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
On those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2


Advent