Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Backstory: The Prologue
Commentary
for the October 19, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the
world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were
evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the
Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
John 3:19-20, NIV
Photons of light are the fastest
known objects in the universe. Physicists have theorized that superluminal or speed
faster than the speed of light is impossible because the energy required to
move even an infinitesimal amount of mass at that speed would be impossible to
achieve. Nonetheless, science fiction writers have toyed with the idea of
travel at such speeds. Scientists tell us that even at light speed, travel to a
planetary system only four light years away would make huge demands on those
engaging in such travel, contained in an interplanetary vessel for those four
years. However, based on Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity those traveling
at such speeds would experience the effects of time much less than those who
remained here on earth. If they arrived back home after a round trip, they
would hardly appear to have aged at all, while those on Earth would be eight
years older. Given enough distance at those speeds, those returning would find
no one they had known to still be alive to welcome them.
It can be a difficult concept to
grasp, but as one's speed increases, time slows until it reaches the speed of
light. Were superluminal travel possible, theoretically time would flow ever
faster backwards as speed beyond that of light increased. In a sense, we might
think of light speed as a natural barrier that prevents time paradoxes that could
potentially wreak havoc with the timeline and even potentially and inadvertently
erase our own existence. This is fodder for science fiction and fantasy
writers, but until the day arrives when someone shows up in a superluminal
capable vessel and claims to be from the future, we have nothing to worry
about. Anecdotally, we have one case in the Bible that hints at travel
approaching light speed in the Book of Daniel. While Daniel is praying word goes
out, presumably from God, directing the angel, Gabriel, to respond, and Gabriel
arrives while Daniel is still praying. (Daniel
9:20-23) We do not know the distances involved. We do not know where heaven
is, nor do we know where Gabriel was when the call went out to him. But Daniel
was impressed enough to make note of it.
It seems light and goodness are strongly
associated deep within our being. This has been demonstrated through good and
evil actions. In the western cowboy movies of the 1940s and 50s, the good guys often
wore white hats and even white outfits, while the bad guys would wear black
hats and outfits. The bad guys would also sneak around under the cover of darkness
to perpetrate their evil acts. Good guys like Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, or
the numerous characters played by Audy Murphy were idolized and mimicked by
children who watched these movies and television series. But there was a
downside to all this as well. With black denoting the bad guys and white the
good guys, it does not take much of a stretch to see how this also ingrained
racist attitudes in the populace with a black skin causing an unexplainable
feeling of unease in those whose skins were much lighter. It became far too
easy for those attributes of the bad guys in the movies to be attributed to
those with darker skin in real life. Where there has been no threat, fear
mongers conjure up threats based on this negative conditioning. Whether it is a
fear of modern Black people forming associations that would allow them to help
one another or ancient Christians skulking about in the darkness of the
catacombs of Rome, there always seem to be those ready to warn people to deal with
the supposed menace before it comes out of the darkness to hurt them. These demagogues
keep the people in a constant state of fear, then as now, because fearful
people are the easiest to manipulate. These demagogues convince them that they
share their fear and that they are going to do something about it even though
the same fear has existed and been manipulated for
thousands of years. As a result, the fearful will be eating out of the hand of
the one promising such deliverance.
It is this fear that brings
darkness to the Earth and in that darkness so many who let that fear rule them
do unspeakable things that would be recognized for their evilness were it
revealed in the light, so they remain in the dark that their fear created,
fearing that their fear itself will be revealed for what it is and destroy
them. While this may appear to be a brave new world that will deal with all this
fear, it is a dystopian nightmare. People seek out others with similar fears
and band together to devise methods of exterminating what is causing that fear.
Those methods can escalate all the way to the level of nuclear warfare,
assuring mutual destruction of everything that humanity has achieved. Convinced
that their salvation only exists in the finger poised silently over that red
button, fear is not assuaged because we also know that one deranged individual
in such a position could send those nuclear explosions cascading across the Earth.
That it has not happened so far may be a divine miracle holding back those annihilating
forces. (Revelation
7:1-3)
In the beginning, the Bible
tells us that God created light. In that light that shone in the darkness was
the genesis of life. It was not part of the plan to live in darkness and fear.
We read that when everything is restored there will no longer be darkness. (Revelation
22:5) Early on, humanity chose darkness to hide their fear and the acts
that result from fear. They hid from God in the bushes of Eden. Choosing
darkness only escalated over time. The price of that has been destruction repeatedly
throughout humanity's history. But rather than see fear as the basis of that
choice and therefore the real enemy, they see the destruction as corroborating
those fears and despite the destruction it causes, fear endures.
That fear has its root in a fear
of death which links all the way back to a fear of missing out or FOMO as
social media uses the term. Death is the ultimate missing out. God wants us to
stop being afraid. To that end, Jesus incarnated in Israel twenty centuries ago.
He taught that there will be no missing out with his followers. Those missing
out will be those living in fear and manipulating others through that fear.
Where they would have us all hide fearfully in the darkness, Jesus called us to
walk in the light. He taught us that the key to doing that was to love. If we
open our hearts to him, God will make that possible. Our hearts have become stoney,
frozen with fear. But with the light of love, God can heal even the hardest
heart that opens itself to him. (Ezekiel
36:26) Love can drive out fear. (1
John 4:18) Love tells us we have a choice. It is proactive. Fear tells us
we have no choice. It is reactive. But we have always had a choice. That is the
light that Jesus brings to our world, knowledge that we have a choice.
Our fear causes us to line up
behind this demagogue or that. They tell us that if we do not, the other side
will win, and all will be lost. So, people line up
behind their favorite. Some claim to be independent, but nonetheless will side sycophantically
with whichever side causes them to feel the most fearful without any true loyalty
to either. No wonder Jesus compared us to sheep without a shepherd, (Matthew
9:36) for a shepherd loves their sheep. The shepherd knows that striking
fear into the flock only scatters it. But the sheep are drawn by a loving
shepherd whom they can trust. Jesus demonstrated the greatest love possible
with his death upon the cross on behalf of the flock. (John
15:13)
The Gospels, especially the
Gospel of John tells us the story of that love and how we can find our way back
to it. At Pentecost after Jesus' death and resurrection, the crowds, responding
to Peter's message, asked how they could find their way back. He responded "Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The
promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom
the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:38-39 Now that Christ has come and promised
to return in order to remind us that we still have the choice that so many
through the centuries have told us we no longer have, the choice to love and
not fear, all that remains is for each of us to decide now that we know.