John 1:1-5: in context

John opens his Gospel not with a birth but with eternity. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made; in him was life, and that life was the light of men. And then John says something that carries hope through the whole Gospel and beyond: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The light of Christ shines into the world's darkness, and the darkness, for all its depth, has not been able to put it out.

The words to hold are these: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John pictures Christ as light, the life that is the light of men, shining into a world that is dark. And he makes a promise about that light: the darkness has not overcome it. The darkness has opposed the light, tried to swallow it, sought to extinguish it; but it has not succeeded and cannot. The light shines on, unconquered, in the very midst of the darkness that opposes it. There is deep assurance here for a world, and for lives, that often seem dark. We look at the darkness in the world, and sometimes in our own hearts and circumstances, and it can seem overwhelming, as though it might swallow every light. John's word answers that the light of Christ shines in exactly that darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. However deep the darkness, the light shines on; however hard the darkness presses, it cannot put the light out. Christ, the light of the world, is not extinguished by the darkness he came to shine into; he shines on, and the darkness cannot prevail against him. This steadies us against despair. When the darkness seems to be winning, in the world or in our own lives, we may hold to this: that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The darkness has not won and will not win; the light of Christ shines on, unconquered. I am the light of the world, Jesus says; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. The light has come into the darkness and shines there still, and no darkness, however deep, can put it out. This is not a denial of the darkness, which is real; John does not pretend the world is bright. It is the assurance that into the real darkness the light has come and shines on, and that the darkness has not overcome it and never will. When the darkness presses hard, we lift our eyes to the light that shines in it, unconquered: Christ, the light of men, whom the darkness has not overcome and cannot.

When the darkness seems to be winning, in the world around me or in my own heart and circumstances, and I am tempted to despair as though the darkness might swallow every light, can I hold to John's assurance that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it, so that however deep the darkness presses, I trust that the light shines on, unconquered, and lift my eyes to Christ, the light the darkness cannot put out?