In Jesus Name: Week 1
An Introduction in Black and White
Before we begin, here’s a question on which I would like for you to reflect:
Throughout your life, in what ways was the color white used to represent cleanliness, purity, eternal life, goodness and holiness, and in what ways was the color black used to represent dirtiness, debauchery, eternal damnation, deceitfulness and wickedness?
As a child, I remember baptismal robes of white and the black armbands of pallbearers. I remember my mother shooing a black cat from our back door, but feeding a white stray dog. I remember my grandmother refusing to let me wear black tights or black clothing because it was a color for grown women. And, I remember when I was 18 and finally legal, lining my eyes in black Kohl and wearing a black lycra barely-there dress out to the club. And because I felt dangerously beautiful and so wickedly seductive, I remember repenting in church that Sunday while wearing a white blouse and skirt.
We’re burdened with a preconception that there is evil in the world and, therefore, we must be wary of its lurking at our door. But we’re also burdened with the misconception that evil is cloaked in a black robe, dons a black hood, and lurks in dark corners far removed from pure white light.
Before we begin to expose the many misapplications of the phrase “in Jesus name,” we must unravel our notions of light and darkness. We must think about why we consider the former to be worthy and the latter unworthy when Jesus never said anything of the sort.
In fact, the story in Genesis claims that when God was finished using both light and darkness to create this world, the final proclamation was that both were “very, very good.” Just because the darkness cannot comprehend or apprehend the light doesn’t mean that it can’t be used for good.
After all, we each succumb to the darkness every night when we slumber. Perhaps this is why the psalmist sang to God, “Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You, But the night shines as bright as the day; Darkness and light are alike to You.”