God doesn't want the world the way it is. He sent his one and only Son. The Light is there.

The message of Epiphany pits light against darkness—the light of God's truth in Jesus and the darkness of life without Jesus. As believers in Jesus, we are surrounded by the darkness and those who seem to live contentedly in the darkness.

Perhaps it's because no one wants to think of the darkness. They won't allow it to register in their consciousness. They choose instead to believe they live in a somewhat perfect world where all difficulties will somehow evaporate.

One strategy is to cocoon. They retreat into their cocoons, spin the silk threads of their illusions around them, and refuse to let life's troubles penetrate. Americans, it seems, are good at cocooning. They head off to work, put in their eight-plus hours, drive home, pull the car in the garage, close the automatic garage door before getting out, and proceed to hide from everything that can hurt them. Of course, not everyone is like that. Yet many still find ways to live without thinking of the darkness.

If anyone prods the edges of their reality a little, they discover the world is not perfect. A friend has a deep heartache. Another faces health issues. A family member far away has to enter the hospital, and no one can be there to comfort. Divorce, separation, abandonment, and domestic violence fracture families and leave them broken. Brokenness becomes a wound people seem to live with, yet it gnaws for answers and solutions.

Darkness persists. "We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes" (Isaiah 59:9,10). This is not a pleasant thought for anyone to contemplate.

All too often the thought simply floats through their minds, and then they go on changing channels for news about someone else's pain and trouble or the latest celebrity scandal. Whether from television or the Internet, they feed their brains with the opium of illusionary joy and distant trouble, believing that all is well for them. But it's not, and they sense it. Even the good things of this life are temporary anesthetics, without real light.

But there is light! Jesus is the Light. He has come to rescue us from the dark downward slope of this life. He came as God's answer to our human woes. He came from above and has seen century after century of bloodshed, heartache, violence, and perversion. He entered this dark world to reveal God's great love for us unworthy creatures, to bring us forgiveness, and to promise a better place. He is the way to his Father's mansions, the life, and the truth.