His Kind Wasn’t Welcome Here
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:9-11)
Whenever I read John chapter one, I can’t help but think of an old song by the Indigo Girls called “Prince of Darkness.” This, of course makes me feel old. It’s probably too old for me to play it for you this Sunday, so I’ll at least share the lyrics with you:
“I don't know when I noticed life was life at my expense
The words of my heart lined up like prisoners on a fence
The dreams came in like needy children tugging at my sleeve
I said I have no way of feeding you, so leave.
But there was a time I asked my father for a dollar
And he gave it a ten dollar raise
When I needed my mother and I called her
She stayed with me for days…
And now someone's on the telephone, desperate in his pain
Someone's on the bathroom floor doing her cocaine
Someone's got his finger on the button in some room
No one can convince me we aren't gluttons for our doom
But I tried to make this place my place
I asked for Providence to smile upon me with his sweet face
But I'll tell you
My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
I do not feel the romance I do not catch the spark
My place is of the sun and this place is of the dark
And I will not be a pawn
For the Prince of Darkness any longer…”
I think John would approve of this song. It is, after all what he’s saying when he says that Jesus, the light of the world, came to his own and that we, in our darkness, couldn’t welcome him. Before we could be the Light of the World ourselves, something had to be done, and that is the story of the Gospel. As the Easter season begins, this Sunday is a very fitting time to talk about it.
V