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Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost

June 28, 2023

Feast Day of Irenaeus

The Invitatory

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Luke 11:33-36

‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

Irenaeus was Bishop of Lyons and a theologian. He vigorously defended orthodox Christianity against Gnosticism. Irenaeus emphasized the apostolic tradition of the church and its bishops and the Christian faith as expressed in the creeds. Gnostics were dualists, teaching that there are two great opposing forces: good versus evil, light versus darkness, knowledge versus ignorance, spirit versus matter. They believed that Christ did not have a material body, but only seemed to have one. Irenaeus was perhaps the first to speak of the Church as “Catholic," that is, universal.

The imagery or metaphor of light appears frequently throughout Scripture. From the beginning of creation, as light is the first created thing, to the end in Revelation. At this point God wipes out all traces of darkness. “And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

This passage from Luke serves as the introduction of light and its effect or influence internally on humankind, specifically its effect on the disciples. For them, light now points to the nature of the “something greater.” In Jesus, light has been given, needing no further sign or explanation to authenticate it. For the disciples, their perception, indeed, their reception, of this light will be revealed in their propensity to sin or to darkness within that blinds them. The light is not concealed or snuffed out. It is constant and present in Jesus himself.

In referring to the health of the eyes of the disciples, Jesus now moves to the condition of those who do listen, that is those who see the light, or should be able to see it. One who sees the light experiences illumination. Life is much larger. It is more than the physical condition of one’s organs of sight; rather, the clear sightedness the disciples experience is a condition that suggests faithfulness to the word of God. The warning to the disciple is to assure that that light illuminates their lives and that darkness does not influence or dominate them. It is Important to bear in mind that the power of darkness is not as powerful as that of light. Those who accept illumination from the true source, Jesus Christ, find that the true source is the word of God preached by Jesus. If they adhere to the word as preached to them by Jesus, they will be guided by the eye, as “the lamp of the body.” Their physical blindness is a metaphor for them as cast into physical blindness, their lost state.

Darkness is a strongly negative image in human experience, oppressive and the natural environment for many evil occurrences. It stands in opposition to God’s purposes with respect to order and goodness throughout the universe.

What does God do with respect to darkness? Is he lord over it? Here is where one can dismiss one of the positions of Gnosticism with respect to dualism. Indeed, darkness has power but darkness exists within God’s control, principally through rescuing God’s people through the work of Christ. By contrast light is not self-generated. It comes (usually unbidden) from outside the earthly and human sphere and transforms that sphere. It evokes the simultaneous transcendence and immanence of God. Light is from above.

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning:

Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law;

and guide our feet into the way of peace;

that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.