"all The Light We Cannot See" Lent 4

In Jesus Holy Name Lent IV March 10, 2024

Text: John 3:17,18a

“All the Light We Cannot See”

All The Light We Cannot See is a 2014 novel by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during World War II in the French town of Saint-Malo. It is also a movie on Netflix. It revolves around Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind teenage French girl who takes refuge in her great-uncle's house in Saint-Malo after having to leave Paris when it was invaded by Nazi Germany.

The story has all the classics; A violent enemy who is seeking a precious stone that he believes will cure is terminal illness. The other main character is Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy who had been accepted into a German military school because of his skills in radio technology. Late in the war, he has been sent to Saint- Malo to help find people in the resistance who are using short wave radio.

Marie LeBlanc went blind at the age of six in 1934. Daniel, her father is helping her adapt to her blindness by creating a wooden model of the town of Saint-Malo. Each day he takes her hand and walks her through the village, she then can visualize, then navigate through the village when he is not present. Eventually he is arrested, and she is on her own.

Each night she reads a braille version of the science fiction novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas”. She did not know that her reading over the short wave radio was sending information to the Allies regarding German positions for upcoming bombing raids. Her uncle was using various pages as a way of sending coded messages to the allies through the reading of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas”.

Nicodemus reminds me of Marie LeBlanc. He is blind to the “light” of Jesus. He hears the words of Jesus. He wonders if the words and miracles of Jesus are a form of “code” from God? Nicodemus had been reading the scriptures but was blind to the hidden message of God’s light.

Like the Germans searching for the short wave radio signals of Marie Nicodemus was searching for an answer. He makes a decision to visit Jesus in secret. He knew that the Pharisees had investigated John the Baptist and was now building a case against Jesus. Nicodemus, had questions. He wondered if Jesus was really the long awaited Messiah.

(some thoughts from Max Lucado and “All the Light We Cannot See)

Nicodemus was an incredibly good man. He was honest to the core. He was a Pharisee. Pharisees were extremely serious about keeping the rules and he was very, very good. Now understand I’m not talking about just keeping the Ten Commandments. No, the Pharisees didn’t worry about keeping them because over the years they also added another 633 rules to enable them to keep those Ten Commandments. You see, the Pharisees were serious about their goodness.

For example: they wanted to know how far one could walk on the Sabbath without breaking the Sabbath. How far could one walk before it was considered work? What could you carry without it being considered work? They arrived at this answer: “You could walk 2000 yards but not one step more. That would be considered work. You could not lift a pot nor light a fire on the Sabbath, so food would have to be prepared the day before and eaten cold. Yet Jesus reminded them that they broke their own rules and could save a donkey if it fell into a well on the Sabbath.

. Nicodemus was doing his level best to keep the rules as a Pharisee. He was depending on his goodness, his Jewish genetics, his blood connection to Abraham to earn God’s favor and a place in heaven.

He was doing a pretty good job. He had religious credentials. He worked for the Jewish high council;’ He spoke the correct religious language. Good enough to be a card carrying member of the Jewish ruling council. He was one of the 70 special elders of the Jewish nation. Further more, he was a Teacher of Israel. He had the credentials to interpret and teach others what the Holy Scriptures were saying, but he could not see the “light” right in front of him, but a flicker of light brought him to Jesus one night.

Last week I noted that John has a theological message about replacing Jewish rules with Himself., His life and message. That’s why John began his Gospel with the miracle of changing water into wine at the Wedding at Cana. John follows that miracle with this conversation Nicodemus had with Jesus. It is about Nicodemus seeking the light of truth.

At the wedding of Cana when the family ran out of wine Jesus took Jewish jars of water that were meant for the right of purification (another Jewish rule) and filled them with wine. The pure water, now turned to new wine made them utterly worthless for the Jewish right of purification. Jesus becomes the replacement for all things the Jewish religion was using in order to have God accept their “goodness”. They wanted the rules They believed that their own goodness would open the doors to heaven.