The First Day

The first day was a day filled with light.  It was not just an ordinary light.  It was an eternal light.  What is surprising is that the first day was not brought into being by the first sunrise.  According the record of Genesis it was the fourth day before the two great lights that we know as sun and moon began bringing its distinctive light into the created order.  The light of the first day is a different light.  It is a light from which everything came.  It is the light which gave light to the created order and the light which still is woven into the fabric of everything created.  Genesis 1:3 speaks of that primal creative moment with the words, "Then God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good..."    

This eternal light of Genesis is brought to light through the reflection of John the Apostle as he wrote in his gospel about the Word being present in the beginning as the light that gives life and overcomes any darkness. (John 1:1-5)  Any doubt about the identity of this eternal light is taken away as the Apostle remembers Jesus saying, "I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of light."  (John 8:12)  Finally, our first day reflection takes us back to the Prologue of John where we hear the Word of God declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God...All things came into being, and without Him not one thing came into being...."  (John 1:1-2).  

It is all about Jesus.  From Genesis to John and even on to Revelation, it is all about Jesus.  What a powerful word to carry with us as we begin our journey into this new year.  In what we know as our beginning, the creative light of the world described in Genesis touches us and gives us life.  In that moment we think of as our ending on this earth, we will move from the darkness into the eternal. The inescapable eternal light which touched us at conception shall reveal for us the road home.