Quotable Wednesdays: Amy-Jill Levine on Light and Dark

Confined

Then [John's] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
"By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace."
(Luke 1:67, 78-79)


Zechariah speaks of light to those who sit in darkness (1:79). His point is not a matter of theological proclamation; his point is that people really were in his time -- and really are, in our time -- sitting in darkness, "in the shadow of death."...The image of darkness also appears in Isaiah 42:7, where Israel's role is "to open blind eyes, to lead the prisoners from prison, and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon. Rather than immediately spiritualize the language of light and darkness, Luke, echoing Isaiah, insists on attending to those who are in prison, behind bars, without daylight.

--Light of the World: A Beginner's Guide to Advent, Amy-Jill Levine, p. 50

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