Let The Light Shine

The best way to defeat darkness isn't fighting darkness. It is becoming more and more bright with the Light of Christ within you through repentance and devotion.

St. Porphyrios said, “Do not fight to expel darkness from the chamber of your soul. Open a tiny window for the light to enter, and the darkness will disappear!”

What a contrast to our current cultural chaos, where it seems all sides want to “fight” all the time. We are driven by our egos to “defend” this or that, and, in the process, we become the very thing we hate. We “fight” like the evil one wants us to, and this corrupts even our good intentions. It is better to be so attentive to Christ and His transforming power in my own life that this shines above all our rhetoric and banishes the darkness of the slavery of immorality, division, and ego. More light is produced by righteousness than by being “right!”

So, am I saying to ignore evil? Not in any way! I am saying that there is little lasting value in “defeating” your enemies and much more in loving your enemies, even the “enemies” within your soul! But the key is to allow that love of your enemies to heap the hot coals of mercy and love on them rather than reducing everything to a debate and declaring “winner.”

It’s time to let the LIGHT shine!

Look at our lesson today in Luke 8:16-21:

The Lord said, “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. Take heed then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

This passage is so familiar to us, and that may be the biggest problem. Familiarity often allows us to assume we know more than we do!

But this passage has a powerful message for us today, especially as we celebrate the Feast of the Conception of the Theotokos. And that message is to put your light where it belongs! Put your light where it will do the intended job: Help others find their way!

There is something antiseptic about light. It illuminates even uncomfortable truths within us and outside us. This Light that Jesus speaks of is that light lit by God in your life and my life. It is the inescapable reality that you and I are made in God’s image to become LIKE Him. He is selfless, thinking of others and helping others. This Light is meant to be a help to everyone who sees it. This Light is not meant to hide because if you put it under a basket or bed, it will go out, smothered by not fulfilling its purpose! This is a great danger to a person of faith when they hide their love for God.

Then, it's no wonder Jesus reacts as He does to the news that His mother and brothers are here to see Him. His response reveals once again the purpose of the Light: to reveal and invite others to hear, obey, and be set free from the darkness of self-centered delusion.

Too many want to use Jesus’ response as an excuse to ignore the historically consistent veneration of the Lord’s mother. They want to say, “See, Jesus doesn’t want us to praise His mother.” But falling for that too-small notion is another way the devil tempts us to “hide” the Light.

When we fail to properly understand just WHY the Faith has, since its earliest days, called us to venerate the Theotokos and the saints, we “hide” the Good News that God’s grace can make us like Christ IF we embrace and live out His Word to us. We gain nothing by hiding the consistent witness of the Faith through the centuries with all its fullness and wisdom. We only retreat into the “too small” self-centered “me and Jesus got our own thing going” mentality that ends up doing the very opposite of what we think it will do!

It is no wonder the Church has us remember the Lord's grandparents in practically every service. Today, we remember the falling asleep of the Theotokos’ mother, Anna. St. Anna is said to have been 69 when she passed away, and her husband, Joachim, was 80 years old when he died just two years before St. Anna. So this is one of the main reasons Sts. Joachim and Anna asked St. Joseph to watch over Mary when she came of age after having been raised in the Temple from her third birthday. They knew they wouldn’t live long enough to ensure Mary was cared for. St. Anna is a model of holy grandmothers caring for and forming their children to see generations blessed by her example. She certainly didn’t hide the Light!

Today, are you hiding the Light within you? Normal Orthodoxy gets in the way of the Light of Christ so HE can shine the darkness away! The Light is the Light of Jesus Christ, and your life is meant to reflect and share that Light with everyone. It is the very reason for the disciplines of the Faith to polish, discipline, and form your life so that the Light shines from a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. O Godly-minded Anna, you gave birth unto God's pure Mother who conceived Him Who is our Life. Wherefore, you have now passed with joy to your heavenly rest, wherein is the abode of them that rejoice in glory; and you ask forgiveness of sins for them that honor you with love, O ever-blessed one.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack.