The light shines in the darkness

The introduction to John's gospel, the gospel traditionally read at Christmas has the line "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it" (NIV).  The King James version has "comprehendeth it not." Those who understands the original Greek work translated "understood/comprehendeth" suggests that the meaning includes take in, overwhelm, engulf...
The light shines in the darkness and the light is not overcome.

I'm aware of  people for who Christmas is a difficult time. Locally, I think of the family whose teenage son died earlier this year, the person waiting for a hip transplant but unable to have it till they sort out the clots in his blood, the farmer waiting to find out when their cattle are going to be taken for slaughter and if any of them will turn out to have TB.   Nationally every news report seems bleak with more and more about the financial chaos caused by the banks and the effect on people's lives with cuts in services and redundancies. Internationally we wait to see what happens in North Korea & Iraq, not to forget Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Syria, Egypt, famine in East Africa, tensions between North and South Sudan, Zimbabwe.... The list seems almost endless. Places of seeming darkness.

But the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. That is not just wishful thinking or pious platitudes. When the Word was made flesh and the Light that enlightens everyone came into the world it came into darkness, the darkness of homelessness, of forced exile and refugee, surrounded by the darkness of occupation by a foreign power and a military regime that slaughtered children.

As the Word made flesh grew to adulthood He was surrounded by the darkness of rejection, betrayal, injustice, torture and death. On Good Friday when the sky turned black and the sun was blotted out it seemed that darkness had overcome it. But the darkness did not overcome. The light still shone in all of that.

The responsibility of Christians, those who claim to be followers of the light, is to reflect that light into the darkness.  We may not be able to reflect Christ's light into the international siutaiton, but we can reflect his light into local sitations. We can't deny the darkness of what people are going through, but we can  show understanding and support for the farmer waiting for their cattle to be culled, we can try and provide practical support for the person waitng for the blod clots to be dealt with, we can  give encouragement and hope to the person made redundant or bereaved.

Christ's light still shines in the darkness. We are to be mirrors.