A small flicker in the darkness

The human eye is a pretty remarkable thing. It has different types of nerve cells that respond to various stimuli. Tiny microsaccadic eye movements are responsible for keeping an image on your retina at all times (if you hold your eye still with your finger, your vision will slowly darken). Different types of chemicals are released when your eye encounters different stimuli which results in different perceptions--movement, colors, light. Your cone cells can differentiate between hundreds of subtle shades--women can generally differentiate between more colors than men. But possibly the simplest part of your eye is one of the most interesting. Rod cells, which mostly hang out in the periphery of your vision, are responsible for detecting the difference between light and dark. In the dark, your eye releases a chemical which inhibits the rod cell from firing the signal that tells your brain "it's light here!" Then, when it actually is light, the cell stops being inhibited and releases a load of a chemical called rhodopsin. Believe it or not, scientists have actually studied the number of photons (light particles) that it takes to trigger the release of rhodopsin, and they have found that a receptor has to encounter about nine individual photons to trigger this chemical reaction. For scale, that's something like the light of a candle at about thirty miles away. That's incredible!

We're made to see light. After all, as creatures that evolved on the land, it became a distinct evolutionary advantage for us to be able to see small amounts of light. We might see the glimmer of the moon off a predator's eyes (or teeth or claws), for example, which would keep us from being eaten. Light is important for us on every physiological level. Psychologically speaking, people kept in the dark, or who experience long Norwegian winters, become depressed. That's because regular exposure to sunlight causes us to release endorphins and seretonin, which keep us from being depressed, and it also triggers our ability to sleep and wake up at normal hours. Furthermore, your body needs sunlight in order to produce vitamin D, which is vital for bone strength, muscle health, and immune response. People who don't get enough sunlight get a disease called Rickets that involved brittle bones and general illness. Spiritually, I like to think of light as something that keeps us healthy too. It nourishes us, it keeps us strong and happy; it gives us hope. We're creatures that really need light. It's vital to our survival.

 I've been following the events in Ukraine the last few weeks fairly closely because my husband in Ukrainian and my mother-in-law is still living there. Here is a summary of the events. Essentially, after the people successfully revolted against a corrupt dictator, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, took it upon himself to "rescue" the Russian speaking minority in Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine by entering with all manner of troops and violating the sovereignty of Ukraine's borders. Sadly, this is not the only tragedy happening right now. The events in Syria continue to unfold and refugees fight for their lives, and Venezuela is undergoing a revolution of its own. We have been very scared by the events in Ukraine, particularly. It's pretty terrible to wait with no end in sight, and no idea what's going to happen. It's like stumbling around in an unfamiliar, dark room.

This morning we heard a sermon on Matthew 17:1-9, which is the Transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus and his pals go up to a high mountain and while there, Jesus is transfigured from an ordinary human to a heavenly being aglow with the light of God. He is literally glowing, signaling the disciples that he is, in fact, the Son of God. The preacher talked poignantly about how Jesus fills the whole world with his glow, illuminating even the most ordinary things. His images were beautiful, but I didn't feel like the world was very aglow. To be honest, I spent a lot of time yesterday with my husband feeling scared, alone, and lost, being afraid with and for him and his people. The world didn't feel alight at all, but dark and desolate. But then I started thinking about eyes, and how the human eye is so adept at sensing light that after a while, even a dark room starts to feel a little lighter. Your eyes start to adapt after a while, and soon you can make out shapes and the glow of your alarm clock is bright enough to keep you from stubbing your toe.

The writer of John's gospel calls Jesus the "light of the world." There are times when it seems unreal that Jesus could light up anything. After all, people are being oppressed. We have a Ukrainian exchange student in our church, and his host parents said that his friend lost a good family friend in the revolution. And that happens every day. Our hearts are often heavy with the evil that surrounds us and cuts us off from the nourishing light of Christ. Where is Christ in war? Where is Christ in death? The answer is that Christ is with us. Jesus hung on the cross and walked with his friends and disciples and experienced the sorrows of death and loss and pain and illness. And we are with Christ. Sometimes in the grave. When people are dying, when we are scared, we're in the grave with him, and we can't see and we're terrified. However, as Martin Luther King Jr. said: "Those of us who call the name of Jesus Christ find something in the center of our faith which forever reminds us that God is on the side of truth and justice. Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately it must give way to the triumph of Easter. Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but that same Christ arose and split history into A.D. and B.C., so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name. Yes, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." In other words, we know Easter happened, and because we know Easter happened, we know it comes continually. God's kingdom can't be contained to one day, but is an event which came, which comes daily, and which is coming in fullness, and because of that, we know that Jesus Christ's resurrection breaks into our darkest times, even if it's just a pinhole of light in a sea of darkness and despair.

Sometimes the most profound hope is the tiny candle flame during the darkest part of the night. Christ is indeed aglow in all things, but where we really feel the warming, nourishing power of that light is in darkness. Christ comes into darkness and declares that even the night is his. The thing is, as Caesar's life was dated by Christ, the lives of good and evil must be subject to Christ, because all things are subject to Christ. That means that Vladimir Putin's knee must also ultimately bow at the name of Jesus, and so must dictators around the world, and perpetrators of violence in our lives. Lies must bow to Christ and be transformed into truth. Sin must bow to Christ and be taken away. Illness must bow to Jesus Christ and be made into wholeness and health. We are walking in darkness right now. We live in dark times. But we also know that Easter Sunday came and comes and will come. Your spiritual eye is capable of a remarkable feat of strength and hope, and that pinhole of light tells you that there is a future that is full not of oppression, war, or hate, but of justice, peace, and love. Even when you can't see it. Even when you're terrified. Even when you are crushed by the weight of the blackness of evil, the light of Christ is there promising redemption for you and for all. Amen.