Running through the Gospel according to John is a theme of dark/light.
Some (not exhaustive) Examples:
Do you remember the first chapter? “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5, italics original).
Here, light symbolizes life, order, and goodness—all which Jesus brings to a world that is dark (i.e., dead, chaotic, and evil).
As well in the story of Nicodemus, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees name Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:1–2, italics original).
In this occurence (as well as Mary Magdalen’s coming to the tomb while “it’s still dark” to prepare Jesus’ body for burial), darkness symbolizes lack of understanding and proper judgment of the identity of Jesus. In other words, those in darkness are confused and have yet to come to know Who Jesus (truly) Is.
Not far from this, we read, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their woks were evil. For everyone how does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:19–20).
Here, light symbolizes goodness, life and knowledge (as in our first occurence) and darkness, being the binary opposition of light, symbolizes evil, death, secrecy and ignorance (there’s even a connotation of darkness symbolizing shame as well in this occurence).
And don’t forget, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4–5, italics original).
Here, light symbolizes the reign of God and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. This is set in contrast to the darkness of the crucifixion of Jesus (that is in turn contrasted with the dawning light of the resurrection).
Then, of course, when Peter betrays Jesus it is at night; ironically enough Peter is warming himself by a finite flame of light while betraying Jesus. That light is the light that will go out, the light that serves the purposes of the individual, not the whole.
Light and Darkness and Creation
This theme of light and darkness is not original to John. It is original, however, to the Old Testament (which John would have been quite familiar with being a first century Palestinian Jew). In particular, John is pulling from the creation account in Genesis that too uses light and darkness symbolically (as is evident in the opening verse of the Gospel according to John).
Modern orthodox Christian interpreters have the habit of pointing out that John is making a claim about the divinity of Jesus in John 1:1, and they are certainly right about that. John is, indeed, saying that Jesus is God (not God the Father, but God the Son). At the same time, there is something else at work that often times goes overlooked and that is that John is also saying something about what kind of God this is that we’re dealing with.
“Yes,” John says, “Jesus is God, but lest we forget that he is also the God of Genesis. He is the one who brings light in the midst of darkness and order out of chaos. He is the Sovereign One. He brings life where death reigns and he will not be overcome.”
Do you remember the story of the creation in Genesis 1 and 2? Do you remember the darkness sand watery chaos over which the Holy Spirit hovered, poised for action at the call of God the Father and the Son? The first words the Father spoke to create it all were, “yihi or” which is Hebrew for “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Just three verses in, God is speaking, bringing order to chaos, bringing light and life in the midst of darkness.
This means that darkness and light is not only a theme of John’s but also a theme of creation.
The Cross, the Resurrection, and the New Creation
Where do we go from here? Let’s move forward by pointing out that this theme comes to a climax in the events of Jesus death and resurrection. In the story of the crucifixion, with a certain degree of enigma Jesus announces, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Other interpreters have pointed out that this echoes the language of God completing his creative work in Genesis 1. There is a link, then, between Jesus’ death and the new creation. In the same way that God completed his creative work in Genesis, Jesus is completing his redemptive work on earth here at the moment of his death. “It is finished.”
Oh wait, there is more.
After three days in the tomb Jesus came back to life.
The first detail of the story that John gives us is, “Now on the first day of the week [new creation language] Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1, italics original).
Then, as you will remember, Mary, with tears in her eyes and the dawn breaking into her darkness, see the resurrected Lord and believes him to be the gardener. I LOVE this moment in the story. I love this because this is EXACTLY who Jesus is! Jesus is the TRUE GARDENER! Jesus is Adam as he was meant to be! Jesus, now with a resurrected body, creation finished, is ready to launch God’s new order into the new creation that his resurrected body embodies.
Jesus is the true gardener.
So where do we end up? With this interpretation, we can see clearly that the resurrection isn’t about dying and going to heaven. No! The resurrection of Jesus is about launching the new creation. Jesus is establishing God’s Kingdom on earth! Jesus’ resurrection is about redoing the garden; it’s all about redeeming the darkness with a shining light. Jesus is turning the Fall of Genesis 3 on its head (racapitulation). Jesus, as the new Adam, reigns over His Church as God intended Adam to have dominion over all the creation. Adam (who symbolizes death in large part) no longer reigns now that Jesus has risen! Now, Jesus is the true human, and he symbolizes life. He is the true gardener; this is the new creation and a whole new order of business. The King reigns
