Have the Light of Life
But Susanna cried aloud: "O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be: you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me." The Lord heard her prayer. Daniel 13:42-44
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12
Piety
The Lantern Out of Doors by Gerard Manley Hopkins[i]
SOMETIMES a lantern moves along the night,
That interests our eyes. And who goes there?
I think; where from and bound, I wonder, where,
With, all down darkness wide, his wading light?
Men go by me whom either beauty bright
In mould or mind or what not else makes rare:
They rain against our much-thick and marsh air
Rich beams, till death or distance buys them quite.
Death or distance soon consumes them: wind
What most I may eye after, be in at the end
I cannot, and out of sight is out of mind.
Christ minds: Christ’s interest, what to avow or amend
There, éyes them, heart wánts, care haúnts, foot fóllows kínd,
Their ránsom, théir rescue, ánd first, fást, last friénd.
Study
In this final week of Lent, we are starting to see the light overcome the darkness. The light-promise was set up in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel: “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:3C-5)
Saturday, Nicodemus took a legalistic approach to confront the darkness of other Pharisees. He challenged their views of Jesus by reminding them that the law required that they listen to Jesus’ side in the light of day. Nicodemus probably was schooled well in the law, especially as Daniel applied it during Susanna’s trial.
“Even in your law, it is written that the testimony of two men can be verified.” John 8:17
“One witness alone shall not stand against someone concerning any crime or any offense that may have been committed; a charge shall stand only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Deuteronomy 19:15
The concept was to purge evil, not to condemn the just. Daniel does this to test and trap Susannah’s two accusers into admitting their lie. In less than two weeks, the accusers shall ignore and overturn the spirit and the letter of the law as the many condemn and execute the One.
Action
My favorite poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, was a Jesuit priest in England and Wales in the mid-19th century. His poems present vivid images. Hopkins starts with something observed: like St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, the Caged Skylark, the Windhover, or a little girl playing in the springtime and then in the autumn leaves (Margaret of Spring and Fall). Hopkins always brings the poem back around to Christ as he does in “The Lantern Out of Doors.”
Have you ever looked out a window into the darkness and seen an unrecognizable someone moving in the distance? Today, it might not be a flickering lantern in their hand. They might be carrying a flashlight, a mini-Maglite or an iPhone with the flashlight app turned on. You cannot see the person, whoever it is that holds the light, but you attempt to follow the light and shadows anyway.
“Who is that lantern-bearer? Where is he coming from? And where is he going?”[ii]
In darkness and light, we pass lots of people daily, just as they cross into and out of our path. Tomorrow, as I transfer from the Metro 17G bus at Pentagon Station, I will share the lower transit platform with hundreds of people if for only an instant. While I await my connection heading downtown, dozens of people will get off of other buses and hurry to their connecting trips or offices located elsewhere, fading from view after a few steps in the spring morning.
Contrast this with what Christ does – He watches over Susannah’s and our trials constantly: “Christ minds…/ éyes them, heart wánts, care haúnts, foot fóllows kínd…”
Christ is always there, from the beginning to the end. He ever watches over each of us; his heart desires to be with us, he cares for us, and he follows us all the days of our lives. What’s more, Christ does not just watch—as Hopkins puts it, he is “[Our] ránsom, [óur] rescue, ánd first, fast, last friend.” Christ is not only our great Redeemer, but he also is our friend![iii]
Christ, as they say, is counting on you! Sometimes we are Susannah, looking out into the darkness of our bleak, scandal-ridden lives, hoping for Christ to come and bring his light to overcome the darkness. We are counting on Christ. Sometimes, we are the wanderers in the dark. Christ is looking out over the night, into the night, to see if we prodigals are stumbling our way back to him.
While those who pass through our lives are “out of sight” and “out of mind” once they are gone, Christ minds where they are going, Christ is interested in them. He knows what to try to accept (“avow”) in them and what needs change (“amend”). He watches them (“eyes them”), his heart longs for them ("the heart wants"), his feet follow them lovingly on their journey (“foot follows kind”). He is their rescuer, their redeemer (“ransom”), and their first (both chronologically and in importance), firm (“fast”) friend in life, and also their last friend at its end and beyond.[iv]
Christ as the Scout or the Lookout (or dare I ask, “The Lighthouse Keeper?) raises the question of why. Why does Christ follow us, love us? Why is he our friend despite how we treat him…how we ignore him, betray him, deny him, condemn him? Perhaps we are not looking through the darkness at Christ, the lantern-bearer. Maybe it is Christ sitting in the window, and we are the lantern-bearer walking past Him. He follows us when he can see only our flicker as well as when our lanterns appear to extinguish.
Event
Reminder:
Saint John on Patmos -- Act 5: A
Revelation
Tuesday, April 9th
7pm in the Chapel at Our Lady of Good
Counsel Parish
8601 Wolftrap Road, Vienna, VA 22182-5026
In 1999 Philip Russell did the
first in a series on “Reflections” originating with “A Journey to My Father’s
House.” This Tuesday night, celebrate your Lenten Journey and the Twentieth
Anniversary of that event. Come and continue your journey with Stories,
Scriptures, Songs & Prayer. Music will be done by “Band Beloved.”
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