Zebulun and Naphtali

Readings of contrast yesterday, and an interesting take on them. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light."

Historical background: around 722 BC, the kingdom of Israel was overthrown, and that conquest began in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali. It was from these regions that the light of salvation would arise in Jesus' public ministry, and where Christ would first proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand.

As our new priest pointed out, there are several implications in our own lives, but the one I found myself considering was how we only find our greatest growth from the darkest areas of our lives. We each have our Zebulun and Naphtali, our areas of darkness. Often we think that God is absent from our lives in these areas, or we reject God's will in order to embrace our own. But often we learn later that love is at its most illuminating brightness in our deepest darkness. That darkness may arise from the loss of someone we love. It might spring from crushing guilt and shame, either deserved or wrongly accepted. It might have its roots in personal failure, or in uncontrollable circumstance. Whatever its source, God's love shines brighter than that darkness, and it will light up our lives and shine on those around us if we follow Christ, as the first disciples did.

Peter and Andrew. James and John. They left their former lives behind. Perhaps they'd dealt with the fisherman's life for so long that even the unknown future offered by this itinerant represented a greater hope for significance. But the remaining depths of my own life likewise call out for a transformation, from hopeless darkness to glorious light, that can only take place if I walk with Jesus in those areas, as well.

It takes a degree of abandon that we too often fear.