John 1:5: The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (NASB)

I like this rather literal translation of John 1:5. It means that when Christ came into the world, as light, the darkness had no idea how to handle him.

If you have ever been in a bar you will notice that the lights are very dim. The thinking is that people enjoy pleasing themselves with alcohol in a place where it seems they are not so seem.

But the great think about Jesus is that he came to enlighten the world and let us see who we are even in our bad times and let us know that no matter who we are we are loved. The darkness doesn’t know what to do with that.

Darkness has sort of a life of its own; calling people to live for themselves.

When Jesus enters the world the darkness cringes because any amount of light dispels the darkness.

When I was young and afraid of the dark I always had to have a nightlight, just one little light on in the hallway somewhere letting me know I was safe. There is no darkness that can overcome a nightlight. When you light one little candle the darkness goes away. The darkness, if can talk to itself, says, ‘Now what do I do? I can’t make the light go away. I have to go away and look for a place where there is no light.’

But Jesus is the light of the world, the whole world and there is no place that darkness can overcome him. Oh, we can close the door, run away from the light but it will always be there and sooner or later the light will find a way into the darkness and the darkness will once again say, ‘Darn, now where do I go?’

The scripture says that Jesus is the light that enlightens every person. That’s good news because it means that in every corner of this world the light of Christ shines and people will see it and run to it knowing that in the light they are much safer than in the dark. And even our sins that will be discovered in the light will be forgiven by Christ.

On this night there are many candlelight services demonstrating how little lights dispel the darkness. Tonight we celebrate the death of darkness even as we celebrate the birth of Christ and the light. Run to the light. He is our only hope.

And don’t worry. No matter how dark your or my situation or that of the world, once we receive the light, the darkness will once again be stumped, hang its head and disappear.