Let There Be Light—Lectionary Reflection for Epiphany 1B (Genesis 1)

 

Genesis 1:1-5 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

1 When God began to create the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

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                A new year has begun. What it will bring, no one knows for sure. In the year 2024, there will be a major election in the United States. There are the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine, to name but the two that dominate the headlines. The Detroit Lions will host a playoff game for the first time in thirty years after winning their division. You can add your own items to this list. There are worrying trends, but there is always hope, even in moments that seem rather dark. As the opening lines of Genesis 1 remind us, in the beginning, things were rather chaotic and dark, yet God created the light that illuminated the darkness. 

                On this first Sunday of the year, congregations have a choice between observing the Day of Epiphany (if they don’t observe it on January 6) or Baptism of Jesus Sunday. Both events are important in the life of the church, so perhaps they might be combined as both Epiphany and Baptism of Jesus Sunday speak of water and revelation. Here in Genesis 1, a text chosen for Baptism of Jesus Sunday, we hear that God created light and thus occurred on the first day. All of this occurred in the aftermath of God’s commencing of the work of creation. As noted, at the moment that the act of creation was set in motion, “darkness covered the face of the deep,” followed by the observation that the Spirit/Wind of God swept over these dark waters.

                Before we dive more deeply into this passage, it is worth considering the meaning of Epiphany. The Greek word speaks of a manifestation of something. In this case a manifestation of God. In this case, the message concerns God being manifested in the person of Jesus, the one confessed to being the Word of God in the flesh (Jn. 1:14). For our purposes, the incarnate Word is a manifestation of the one who in the beginning began to create the heavens and the earth. Epiphany also speaks of light shining into darkness as noted in the story of the star of Bethlehem, which the magi followed (Mt. 2:1-12). The message of light continues from Epiphany to this reading from Genesis 1.   

                The lectionary selection for the first Sunday after Epiphany, a Sunday where we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, includes only the opening lines of Genesis 1. Thus, this isn’t intended to serve as a foundation for a conversation regarding creation or origins, though that is an important conversation (see my book Worshiping with Charles Darwin for my thoughts on the matter). What the passage as it stands invites us to do is consider God’s act of separating the light from the darkness, which God declared to be good. It’s interesting that God doesn’t dispense with darkness but separates light from the darkness that existed in the beginning.  As Joseph Price helpfully writes, in the beginning when darkness reigned nothing, even chaos, could be seen. Thus, “Light is the first step for order to be established and discerned. The separation of light from darkness begins a crescendo of creative action that is crowned with the creation of humans, who are formed in the image of God and who serve as God’s companions” [Feasting on the Word, p. 220]. But light not only helps with perception but makes life possible. Thus, it is the first step in creation, and thus a fitting way to begin a new year.

                If this passage speaks to us of the creation of light, making possible the manifestation of God in our midst, we receive it at a time when many believe that the times we live in are rather dark. Such times often lend themselves to embracing darkness over light. With so much uncertainty (chaos) abounding, many folks are embracing authoritarian political systems that promise to bring order to our lives. Politicians tell us that they alone can fix things. It’s a proposal that is proving popular. One of the messages delivered by populist politicians at home and abroad is that the other is the enemy. Every populist has an enemy that must be destroyed. These days the other might be a member of the opposing political party, an immigrant (especially immigrants, whom a former president suggested are poisoning the blood of the nation), and of course LGBTQ folks.

Amid all this chaos and darkness, people feel lost and afraid. They may feel the need for God, but they’re not sure whether God is present or if God is of any help in times like this. It seems as if the church has hidden its light under a bushel basket. But darkness does not control the day. There is light available to the world. God created it. If we turn to John 1, another passage of Scripture that begins with the words “In the beginning.” According to John the Word, the Logos of God, was in the beginning with God and all things came into being through him. Not only that but this Word, who became flesh, is the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn. 1:1-5).

Returning to Genesis 1, even if things start with a sense of darkness and perhaps despair, the opening of Genesis celebrates the light. Though darkness may cover the earth, it will not prevail. Light has been set free so that we might see the things of God and embrace them. We might want to say that this light that has entered the world, helping to bring order to creation is an expression of God’s glory (kabod). As Jesus declared of himself in the Gospel of John: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). As we hear in Mark’s testimony to Jesus’ baptism, God declares of this one whom John baptized: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:9-11). So, let there be light! May we, the followers of Jesus, who is the light bearer, bear witness to that light.  

I close with the words of the Philipp Nicolai hymn “O Morning Star.” As we ponder the light shining in the darkness in the person of Jesus, the one whom John declares is the light of the world, we sing these words from the second verse of this hymn:

Come, heavenly brightness, light divine,

And deep within our hearts now shine;

There light a flame undying!

In your one body let us be as living branches of a tree,

Your life our lives supplying.

Now, though daily earth’s deep sadness may perplex us and distress us,

Yet with heavenly joy you bless us.  

(Chalice Hymnal, 105). 

Image attribution: Moyers, Mike. Shine, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57144 [retrieved December 28, 2023]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/.