“The Light Shines in the Darkness…”
15th Sunday after Trinity Sunday
2 Corinthians 4:6-15; Matthew 22:35-46
Apostle Paul, in The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, declares that
“God commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
This assertion of Paul’s can be linked with the testimony of evangelist Matthew:
“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light....” (Matthew 4:16)
And that testimony of Matthew’s, as we know, reflects an ancient prophecy from Isaiah (8:23; 9:1). From this, we can conclude that both Old Testament and New Testament testimonies expressed by different people at different times are revelations from God; thereby, their value does not lie in human wisdom. As the same apostle affirms:
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their own craftiness”. (1 Corinthians 3:19)
And whether the prophet Isaiah more than 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, or the evangelist who received and understood the teachings and actions of Christ, or the apostle who, following Jesus Christ, preached His gospel teachings—all of them were executors of God's will and testified about God's actions as they were revealed to them by God.
Apostle Paul testified about a completed action—the enlightenment of people by Jesus Christ. He notes that people themselves are unstable material—“clay vessels,” susceptible to various bodily weaknesses, as he himself was (2 Cor. 12:7), but the “treasure,” the “magnitude of power was God’s” (2 Cor. 4:7), because they were enlightened by Christ, and God’s power resided in them.
With the power of God, they are invincible, although in fulfilling Christ's mission they endure many obstacles, insults, and humiliations. The apostles remembered Christ's prediction:
“If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20)
Therefore, when the apostles were imprisoned, beaten, and scorned (Acts 16:22-24), they found comfort in the Lord:
“We are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor. 4:8-11)
Followers of Christ knew that Jesus was physically beaten, spat upon, crucified and killed on a cross. But He rose again to conquer death and grant life to all His followers. The Lord promised encouragement to His disciples:
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (Jhn. 16:33)
And because of that, the disciples, followers of Christ, tirelessly preached the gospel faith of salvation, emphasizing above all the resurrection of Christ, proclaiming that
“Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”
(1 Cor. 15:20);“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (ibid., verse 22)
The apostolic preaching was above all a preaching of optimism, in which people of different nations found the faith of hope. For that reason, no darkness, no human force, neither the hypocrisy of the Jewish Pharisees and scribes, nor the cruelty of the officials of the Roman Empire could overcome the message of Christ. Or, as the evangelist John expresses figuratively:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (Jhn. 1:5).
The pagan darkness tried to extinguish the light of Christ with human wisdom and cruel punishments and violence, but could not. The light of Christ prevailed, as in nature, the light of the sun prevails.
No matter how difficult it was for them, the apostles and followers of Christ were confident in their gospel, because they knew that:
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
The followers of Christ knew that Golgotha, the cross is not the end, not everything, that at the end there is resurrection. That is why Ap. Paul writes:
“I believed, and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus....” (2 Cor. 4:13-14)
Because the followers of Christ had such a firm faith in their resurrection, they could not be intimidated by punishments, persecutions, or bodily death—they were invincible with Christ.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
