More light is wonderful, right? Spirits lift, activity increases.
Who wouldn’t want more of this??
Yet, as we ponder our love affair with light, we hear Jesus say
this: “The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than
light” (John 3:19). Pardon? I thought it was the other way around. But then he
goes on to explain, saying “because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil
hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be
exposed.” (19-20)
Ah yes. Exposure. Light does have that tendency to bring things
into full view. Often there are some things in our lives that we would rather
not expose, actions of which we are not particularly proud. Keeping them in
the dark seems appealing.
But that’s not a good idea. As the saying goes, we are as sick as
our secrets. Lent is a privileged time to look at the areas of our lives where
we do, indeed, prefer darkness and shun the light, precisely in order to make
the decision to expose them to light. Not just any light, mind you. The light
to seek is that which “has come into the world,” a phrase used by Jesus to
refer to himself. The call of Lent is to step out of the shadows into the light
which is Jesus. To do so is to step into his love and into his mercy, so this
kind of exposure is not to be feared. It is necessary for healing. It leads us
to freedom.
The opposite to “springing ahead” is “falling back”. We shall say
that in the autumn when we turn the clocks back one hour. The expression is
telling. The last thing we want to do is to fall back into the darkness of sin
and error, especially if we have sprung forward in faith by exposure to
Christ’s light. So, let’s pray not only to step into the light this Lent but
also to stay there.
