Christ's Light Overcomes All Inner Darkness

Title: Christ's Light Overcomes All Inner Darkness

Intro: Our weaknesses become channels for God's strength.

Scripture: John 8:12

Reflection

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The journey inward is perhaps the most challenging pilgrimage we will ever undertake. "Do not just look around. Look within." These words call us to a deeper examination than our usual outward glances. We are invited not merely to observe the world around us but to turn our gaze inward to those shadowed corners we so often avoid.

What do we see when we look within? Not the carefully curated versions of ourselves we present to others, but the raw, unfiltered reality of our hearts. The Psalmist understood this when he prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24). This prayer acknowledges that true self-examination requires divine illumination, for we are often blind to our own darkness.

How do we see? Through what lens do we examine ourselves?

Too often, we look through the distorted glass of self-justification or harsh condemnation. Neither offers clarity. Scripture offers us the perfect lens—truth tempered with grace. As John writes, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5). When we allow God's light to illuminate our inner landscape, we begin to see as we are seen.

The mud of darkness takes many forms in our lives. For some, it is pride, that ancient sin which first caused Lucifer to fall and Adam and Eve to stumble. For others, it is fear that paralyzes and prevents us from walking in faith. Still others find their mud in resentment, greed, lust, or apathy. These are the realities we must name—specifically and honestly—if we hope to be cleansed.

The biblical narrative is filled with individuals who confronted their mud of darkness. Consider David, whose moment of reckoning came through the prophet Nathan's pointed declaration: "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7). After months of hiding his sins of adultery and murder, David finally acknowledged his reality: "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13). This naming of his darkness was the first step toward restoration.

Peter faced his mud of darkness in a courtyard as the rooster crowed. His threefold denial of Jesus revealed a weakness he had refused to acknowledge. Luke tells us, "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter... And he went outside and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61-62). In that moment of recognition, Peter named his reality—his cowardice, his betrayal, his failure of loyalty.

The Samaritan woman met Jesus at a well, where he gently but directly exposed the mud of her life. "You have had five husbands," he told her, "and the man you now have is not your husband" (John 4:18). Rather than turning away in shame, she acknowledged this reality and was transformed, becoming one of the first evangelists who brought others to Christ.

Acknowledging our darkness is necessary but insufficient. The invitation continues: "go wash." This echoes Jesus's instruction to the blind man: "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam" (John 9:7). It recalls Naaman's healing from leprosy after washing seven times in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5). Washing implies both action and submission—we must participate in our cleansing, yet recognize that the power to cleanse comes from beyond ourselves.

Paul describes this washing as transformation: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). This is not a one-time event but a continual process. As we daily bring our darkness into God's light, we experience ongoing renewal.

The promise that concludes this invitation offers hope: "The mud of darkness always gives way to the light of Christ." This is the testimony of Scripture from beginning to end.

In creation, God's first recorded words were "Let there be light," dispelling the darkness that covered the formless earth (Genesis 1:3). In Isaiah's prophecy, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2). In the gospel's declaration, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).

The apostle Paul experienced this transformation dramatically on the Damascus road, where the light of Christ literally blinded him before bringing new sight (Acts 9). From persecutor to apostle, his mud of darkness—religious zealotry that led to violence—gave way to the light of Christ's love.

The early disciples, huddled in fear after Jesus's crucifixion, saw their darkness dispelled when the risen Christ appeared among them. Their grief turned to joy, their confusion to clarity, their cowardice to courage. As John would later write, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).