Conversion – from darkness to light
THE WORD IN LENT 2026 – WEDNESDAY FOURTH WEEK
March 18 – Isaiah 49: 8-15; John 5: 17-30
Conversion as the journey from darkness to light, cannot be taken up as a task all by ourselves, and we know that well. We are made capable of this journey by God, by God’s promises, by God’s faithfulness. We are formed by the Lord, we are made into God’s people, we are made the covenant of God – that is, we are made children of light by the Lord, says Isaiah in the first reading.
Jesus reiterates that in the Gospel, reminding us that we are made children, in the Son - in the Son who has been sent to us, sent for us, as the fulfilment of the covenant of love that God has made with us. Jesus makes us understand that we are made children of life, of eternal life by the faith we profess in Christ, the One who has been sent for our salvation.
The Word today explains to us what it means to have been made children of light and of life… it means the certainty of love, guarantee of life and fearlessness of light.
Isaiah outlines the glory of the day of salvation – when the Lord will restore the land, liberate the prisoners and do away with the darkness. He presents it in terms of the certainty of God’s love, the covenant of love that has no end. “I will never forget you” – those are truly strong words indeed, from the Lord. God remains faithful to that promise of love, by sending God’s own Son to be our salvation.
Jesus, the fulfilment of the covenant, offers us the guarantee of eternal life, provided we unite ourselves with him and in him. This is essentially the choice to make that journey from darkness to light… the choice cannot but be ours, although it is the Lord who enables us in this task. Jesus manifests his Sonship, the Sonship in which we are made children of God. This he does fearlessly, because he has the light of the will of God, and he is the light that leads us to eternal life. The light makes us fearless, fearless of anything in the world that can threaten us, fearless of anything around us that can lead us astray, fearless of anything that vies to destroy us! As long as we are determined to do the will of the One who calls us and sends us, we shall be in the light, and we shall be fearless… because we are made children in the Son.