Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent – March 22, 2010
John 8:12-20
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."
Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."
Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"
"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
The vocabulary of “light” and “darkness” can get confusing on the spiritual journey. On a surface level, we read Jesus’ pronouncements about the light he gives, the light that brings a person out of the darkness forever. This light illumines the lives of women and men in order to bring us out of spiritual darkness.
At this first level of understanding, spiritual darkness is equated with life that is opposed to God, set against the movement of God. This darkness is a force for destruction and evil that stands against the well-being, healing, and goodness God brings into the world.
This initial light, then, becomes a new way of seeing in the world, a fresh way of orienting one’s life. These words of Jesus ring true: Once we experience the light of God, we can never again see life in the same way we did previously. Our seeing is forever changed. Even if we try to renounce “the Light,” we can never again be completely satisfied with the darkness, destruction, and chaos. In a sense, our sight has been forever changed.
Spiritual writers in the Christian contemplative tradition – John of the Cross in the 17th century and Thomas Merton in the 20th century – speak of another kind of darkness, this time not as a spiritual force for evil that opposes God in the world. This darkness, John of the Cross writes, is more like “obscurity” (oscura in Spanish), in which the spiritual journey leads us more and more into that which we do not know and cannot see.
God is then “obscured” from our view by the many images, metaphors, emotions, and concepts that we once confused with God. Faith in God truly becomes faith because we cannot make our own way or reason things for ourselves.
For many persons engaged in a spiritual journey, this darkness is a natural outgrowth of the God-life. There comes a time when we seem to be in darkness, when all the concepts and images we have carried for God suddenly begin to slip away. We begin to experience that God is beyond all of them, that God cannot be reduced to what my mind thinks about God or what my lips can say about God.
This is the darkness or obscurity John, Merton, and others write about. In fact, these spiritual guides say that the “darkness” is not really darkness at all, but rather that humans tend to be blinded by the Light as we draw nearer and nearer to God as God truly is.
Our experience of this obscurity is counter-intuitive. When in the darkness, we may feel as if we’ve lost everything we’ve known of God, all of God we had previously experienced. Actually, God is moving us to a deeper love, a deeper faith, a heart-to-heart relationship that is not predicated on what we see and what we think.
This obscurity may not feel good, but it is a significant marker for many in the spiritual life. When we hit this spot in the road, the hope is that we don’t run from it or try to move backwards to some previous state of life, but rather allow God to use the obscurity to shape us and draw us to a more authentic love, both for God and for the world.
During Lent it is appropriate to consider our own dark path, especially as we walk with Jesus toward the cross and crucifixion.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."
Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."
Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"
"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
The vocabulary of “light” and “darkness” can get confusing on the spiritual journey. On a surface level, we read Jesus’ pronouncements about the light he gives, the light that brings a person out of the darkness forever. This light illumines the lives of women and men in order to bring us out of spiritual darkness.
At this first level of understanding, spiritual darkness is equated with life that is opposed to God, set against the movement of God. This darkness is a force for destruction and evil that stands against the well-being, healing, and goodness God brings into the world.
This initial light, then, becomes a new way of seeing in the world, a fresh way of orienting one’s life. These words of Jesus ring true: Once we experience the light of God, we can never again see life in the same way we did previously. Our seeing is forever changed. Even if we try to renounce “the Light,” we can never again be completely satisfied with the darkness, destruction, and chaos. In a sense, our sight has been forever changed.
Spiritual writers in the Christian contemplative tradition – John of the Cross in the 17th century and Thomas Merton in the 20th century – speak of another kind of darkness, this time not as a spiritual force for evil that opposes God in the world. This darkness, John of the Cross writes, is more like “obscurity” (oscura in Spanish), in which the spiritual journey leads us more and more into that which we do not know and cannot see.
God is then “obscured” from our view by the many images, metaphors, emotions, and concepts that we once confused with God. Faith in God truly becomes faith because we cannot make our own way or reason things for ourselves.
For many persons engaged in a spiritual journey, this darkness is a natural outgrowth of the God-life. There comes a time when we seem to be in darkness, when all the concepts and images we have carried for God suddenly begin to slip away. We begin to experience that God is beyond all of them, that God cannot be reduced to what my mind thinks about God or what my lips can say about God.
This is the darkness or obscurity John, Merton, and others write about. In fact, these spiritual guides say that the “darkness” is not really darkness at all, but rather that humans tend to be blinded by the Light as we draw nearer and nearer to God as God truly is.
Our experience of this obscurity is counter-intuitive. When in the darkness, we may feel as if we’ve lost everything we’ve known of God, all of God we had previously experienced. Actually, God is moving us to a deeper love, a deeper faith, a heart-to-heart relationship that is not predicated on what we see and what we think.
This obscurity may not feel good, but it is a significant marker for many in the spiritual life. When we hit this spot in the road, the hope is that we don’t run from it or try to move backwards to some previous state of life, but rather allow God to use the obscurity to shape us and draw us to a more authentic love, both for God and for the world.
During Lent it is appropriate to consider our own dark path, especially as we walk with Jesus toward the cross and crucifixion.
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