The Sun Rising

It’s August, and there’s nothing I like better than warming my skin under the gentle rays of the winter sun. Recently, we’ve had fresh carpet installed in our rumpus room—the very last room in our house that needed an upgrade.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in this empty room on the new carpet. When I roll around on the floor, it feels like I’m moshing with a thousand baby seals. This carpet makes all my worries disappear, it’s that plush. I kid you not.

Sunlight pours through the window to form a large square patch of light on the carpet. On a slow day, I like to maroon myself there for a while like a walrus on the rocks soaking up the sun’s rays.

It is pure bliss having the sun warm my back through my tracky dacks and fleecy robe as I nibble on a novel. It’s so relaxing that I’ve occasionally dozed off with book in hand.

I’m reminded of a line from a poem by John Donne called The Sun Rising.

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

               Why dost thou thus,

Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

It’s here that I disagree with Donne. The sun isn’t a busy body, sticking his nose in uninvited through windows to rouse us out of slumber. The sun is a welcome friend. On a winter’s day, I want the warmth, I want the light, and I want the comfort of the sun’s glorious rays on me.

The nature of light

Now for those of you that have an affinity for science, let’s step away from poetry towards some cold hard facts. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that:

Through the sense of sight, light is a primary tool for perceiving the world and communicating within it. Light from the Sun warms the Earth, drives global weather patterns, and initiates the life-sustaining process of photosynthesis. On the grandest scale, light’s interactions with matter have helped shape the structure of the universe.  

Clearly, light is essential for us to see what is in our present environment. How many steps will it take to reach the door? Is that a splotch of barbecue sauce on my shirt? The fish are floating to the top of the tank. It’s probably time to change out the water and clean out the aquarium.

And, we didn’t need an encyclopedia to tell us that light reveals reality.

The Light of the World

The Bible speaks of Jesus as the light of the world. Jesus reveals spiritual realities. He is light. He is morally perfect. He is holy. He is without sin.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.   John 3:17-18

Defining Condemnation

The word condemned is a legal term. It means a person is guilty of a crime and must pay the penalty for that wrongful act.

What then are our crimes against God and against each other? There are too many to count. We don’t give God the honour he deserves. We choose to follow our own deceitful, hurtful desires instead choosing God’s path. We lie, cheat, and steal.

We hurt others by using words as arrows. Or we give them the silent treatment as another way to wound. The fact is we are broken, imperfect, sinful creatures.

Jesus came not to judge the world, but to save sinners from their plight, the condemnation of hell, and the misery of life when we continue to indulge our sinful nature.

Why do people reject the gospel?

Have you ever wondered why people reject Christ and his gift of eternal life? There are many explanations, but scripture tell us one of the main reasons is an aversion to light.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.   John 3:19-20

There’s a preference for living in the shadow lands than in the bright radiance of the sun. The darkness mentioned in the gospel of John refers to moral darkness. This blackness signifies the absence of God, which ultimately leads to spiritual death.

Sometimes it’s a case of living in a rut, or being caught in a cycle or a sinful pattern that is hard to break. So we persist in evil deeds that are of no moral value—deeds that are worthless.

We know we’re in the wrong, but the glare, the light of Christ that exposes our souls, is something to avoid because we don’t want the truth confirmed. That we’re sinners. It’s a blow to our pride.

So, we exercise willful ignorance.

It’s like nursing the pain of a toothache, but refusing to go to the dentist because you know that when you’re sitting in the chair, mouth open wide, under the powerful lamp light, the dentist will discover what you already suspect—a deep cavity. You need a filling at the very least.

Needles are frightening, the whir of the drill makes you shiver, the very thought of a tooth pulled out from its roots makes you dizzy. So, you decide to live with the toothache.

At times, the light of Christ shining through the heart of a true believer can unwittingly make others feel uncomfortable.

Here’s a quote from my all-time favourite literary novel, Some Wildflower in My Heart by Jamie Langston Turner. We hear the inner voice of the main character, Margaret Tuttle, thinking about the stark contrast between the condition of her own heart and Birdie’s.

All I knew for certain was that in the presence of Birdie Freeman I felt the unmistakable power of goodness, whereas when I turned away from her, I was painfully pricked by the knowledge of weak and beggarly elements within my own soul.    

But, the discomfort is necessary for sinners to face reality—spiritual poverty and wretchedness.

No matter how much we try to deny that we are sinners in need of a saviour, the truth and the light cannot be extinguished.

Mrs. Galway was my 5^th grade teacher. She had a clipped hair—whiter than white bread, sagging jowls, and stood not much taller than the students she taught. She’d scold us in her thick Scottish accent. Somehow, this made you feel like you were taking more heat than you actually were.

There were four Asian girls in our class, and every so often, she’d confuse our names. Sometimes I’d get Trixie, or Myla, or Ellen instead of the name my parents gave me. I guess for some, all Asians look alike. (I’m just thankful she never confused me with one of the Asian boys.)

The end of term exam period was the best of times and the worst of times. Our school desks were always arranged in a U shape around the classroom. Exam results determined where you’d sit for the rest of the following term.

The top scorers would be in the coveted positions on the left side of the room, average scorers were in the middle and the low scorers landed on right side of the room.

You knew you were up for irreparable psychological damage if you landed on the right side (or was it the wrong side) of the room.

All this to say that Mrs Galway did not like a particular word in the Hymn Amazing Grace. You’re all familiar with the opening stanza which says:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.

She took particular objection to the word wretch. A wretch, you see, means a base, despicable or vile person. So whenever we sang the song, our entire class was forced to swap out the word wretch with the word soul.

An easy thing to do, and at the time I didn’t think much of it. I was young and not yet saved, and the primary school, though Christian in it’s core values, did not actively promote the gospel.

Mrs. Galway was in denial of the fact that to come to Christ, we must recognise our own depravity, our own sinfulness, and our own wretchedness. Otherwise, we would not need Christ and his atoning sacrifice to save us from our sins.

In her own way, she’s like the man in the poem The Sun Rising, who boasts that he could block out the sun’s powerful rays by shutting his eyelids,

I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink.

Blocking out the sun with a wink, changing a lyric, denying the need for a saviour. It’s all the same. It’s people shrinking from the light.

Matthew Henry spoke on this issue with perfect clarity in his Commentary on the Whole Bible. He said,

First, It is not strange if those that do evil, and resolve to persist in it, hate the light of Christ’s gospel; for it is a common observation that every one that doeth evil hateth the light, v. 20. Evil-doers seek concealment, out of a sense of shame and fear of punishment; . . .

They come not to this light, but keep as far off it as they can, lest their deeds should be reproved.

Note, 1. The light of the gospel is sent into the world to reprove the evil deeds of sinners; to make them manifest (Eph. 5:13), to show people their transgressions, to show that to be sin which was not thought to be so, and to show them the evil of their transgressions, that sin by the new commandment might appear exceedingly sinful.

The gospel has its convictions, to make way for its consolations.

Those of us who have acknowledged that we are wretches and have embraced the Son and his light, know the truth. The gospel is a comfort. We’ve been forgiven. There’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been freed from sin’s curse. We are heaven bound.

May we reflect the light of Jesus in our lives so that the lost are drawn to Him.

May the Son rising be your hope.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.     John 1:4

Bibliography

Cole, S. 1998, Lesson 16: Why Religious People Reject Christ Luke 4:14-30, Bible.org. Retrieved 3 August 2022 from

https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-16-why-religious-people-reject-christ-luke-414-30

Donne, J. The Sun Rising, Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 3 August 2022 from

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44129/the-sun-rising

Gusik, D. 2018, John 3 – The New Birth, Enduring Word. Retrieved 3 August 2022 from

John Chapter 3

Henry, M. 1961, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Zondervan, Michigan.

Pawson, D. 2015, Unlocking the Bible, William Collins, UK.

Pfeiffer C, F. 1990, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Publishers, Illinois.

Piper, J. 2009, This is the Judgement: Light has come into the World, Desiring God. Retrieved 3 August 2022 from

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/this-is-the-judgment-light-has-come-into-the-world

Stark, G. ‘Light’ Physics, Britannica. Retrieved 3 August 2022 from

https://www.britannica.com/science/light

Turner, J. 2006, Some Wildflower In My Heart, Bethany House Publishers, USA.