24 His disciples said: Teach us concerning the place where thou art, for it is necessary for us to seek after it. He said to them: He that hath ears, let him hear. There is a light within a man of light, and it gives light to the whole world. If it does not give light, there is darkness.
Light fills the Bible; I mean the word as well as the reality.
Look at Genesis 1, God's first act of creation. This tells us something about the Bible and about the judeo/christian faith. It's about light (and darkness). Fox was just describing the Bible when he said "there's an ocean of light and an ocean of darkness".
Or look at the N.T. at John 1:14. Sounds like a reproduction of Genesis 1.
Thomas, like the whole Bible, puts great emphasis on the metaphor of light. In this verse (22) he's saying that there's light in us and our light fills the whole world, unless it's darkness.
Four metaphors: light and darkness: replacing good and evil. A duality that is supposed to become a unity.
5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Using a somewhat different metaphor it seems to me that Matthew is saying the very same thing.
Like Matthew and Thomas we each have our own vernacular, our own way of thinking, but joined together, our light comes together into a profound radiance. PTL
5 comments:
There is so much positive meaning in the idea of "light" ... I guess it's pretty universal. Ahura Mazda (Zoroastrian god of light) comes to mind ... GE made a light bulb/lamp named after him :-)
I read your link Crystal. We live in such a starnge world where the faith of others becomes consumer products to be bought and sold.
Way back when i first became Christian a luxury car (I think it was Seville) promoted its product with the Shaker hymn -- Simple Gifts.
There's just something icky about it to me. Why not Jesus Cola? Or St Peter spark plugs. Virgin Mary condoms.
Larry. I think you're right about Matthew and Thomas covering thes ame ground here in 24.
I'm more interested in your remark about Genesis. When God says "let there be light" is that the physical light or the metaphorical? Is teh light we seek within -- not God but God's first creation?
Physical or metaphorical, David?
I don't think it's either/or. It's poetry, which means that it may mean something different to everyone who reads it, and when we share our visions of it, we're all enriched thereby, and probably have our own vision enriched.
Larry. You sense of poetry is different from mine as well. The idea that poetry can mean something different to everyone who reads it si itself a modern notion and pretty much the product of poor teaching in our schools systems.
There are poems that can mean anything at all. They are few and mostly written since the Romantic era (Blake -- your hero!) --a nd even moreso -- written sicne teh 1960s.
"Let there be light" is a critical example -- it most certainly was intended literallyy by teh origibnal writers/readers -- it became metaphorical with John -- but the oobject of the metphor remained fixed -- the light was Christ.
If someone should come along and say the light God created in genesis was actually a flock of quacking ducks we should say he is being a tad creative in his interpretation.
The text has some say in the way it is to be interpreted. As do the communities in which we function and which train us in appropriate interpretive techniques.
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