Seeing the world upside down

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:5).

All photography is based on a simple principle that has been known for over 2,000 years. The Romans named this principle camera obscura, which means ‘dark room.’ It works this way: you set up a room that is shielded from all light. Then you make one small opening in a wall, which allows a single ray of light to enter. That ray of light crosses the dark room and strikes the far wall, creating a faint image of the scene outside the little window. But there is one thing wrong about that image—it is upside down!

This principle of photography illustrates how we human beings tend to see God. The disciple John tells us, God is light (1 John 1:5). When Moses returned to the Israelite camp after standing in God’s presence on Mt. Sinai, Moses’ face still glowed with the light of God (Exodus 34). Jesus, the Son of God, said: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). And Revelation chapter 21 tells us that when God remakes this world in perfection, no sun or moon will be needed, because the glory of God will give it light, and Jesus will be its lamp.

But there’s a problem. Because of sin, we live in darkness. Our world is like a dark room, a camera obscura. When Jesus came among us as a baby, He broke a small opening into our world and allowed a ray of God’s light to enter. Thanks to Jesus, God’s light forms an image on the wall of our dark room, a faint picture of our holy God and His glorious home. But just like the image in a camera, that picture projected into our darkness looks upside down. John tells us that although Jesus is the light of the world, the darkness has not understood it.

Because of the darkness that we live in, we tend to see things upside down. It appears to us that the most important things in life are popularity, wealth and authority. It seems obvious to us that God would reward those who do the best job of following His rules. But darkness inverts the truth. From God’s perspective, the most important things in life are humbleness, charity, and service. God rewards those who trust in His love to forgive them for their failures and who look to Him for leadership every day. Mary tells us: He has taken princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands (Luke 1:52-53). This reversal of our expectations has led many to reject Jesus, yet it makes perfect sense when we realize that the darkness of sin has turned our thinking upside down.