True Detective Part 2 - Light and Darkness

WARNING - SOME STRONG LANGUAGE

Rusty - Tell you Marty I been up in that room looking out those windows every night here just thinking, it’s just one story. The oldest.”
Marty: “What’s that?”
Rust: “Light versus dark.”
Marty: “Well, I know we ain’t in Alaska, but it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.”
Rust: “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
Rust: “You’re looking at it wrong, the sky thing.”
Marty: “How’s that?”
Rust: “Well, once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”

This is the final scene from the scene. The case is solved. Both have survived but it's been pretty grim along the way. The question is what was it all about? What is it all about? True Detective is as much a film about how you view the world as it is about a case. The conclusion is this. It's one story. the story there has always been 'light versus dark'

This is the story of humanity - there's good and there's bad. There's light and there's dark and which is prevalent? Well that depends on your worldview and your experiences. This story of light and dark always interests me because it is one of the central stories of the Bible. Just look at a few of the key moments in the Bible.

What does God create first? Light
What does Jesus say that he is? The light of the world
How is God described? God is light and in him there is no darkness at all
What happens when Jesus dies? Darkness descends
What are Jesus' followers called to be? Light in the world
What will happen at the end? God will recreate the world but there will be no more sun because he himself will be the light.

The Bible tells this story which humanity has been telling ever since. There is darkness in the world and darkness seems to have a lot more territory. So how will the light ever prevail. Well in Jesus light comes into the world. Perfect light in the perfectly good person and he offers forgiveness to people so that they too can become light. As such his followers seek to be light in the world but never wholly succeed until that last day when light finally prevails as God comes down and makes his dwelling with people.

So the story of light and dark continues but light will prevail because light came into the world in the person of Jesus. So ultimately Jesus says rejecting him is rejecting light and choosing the darkness and accepting him is accepting the light.

It may seem like the dark has a lot more territory - but once there was only dark so you ask me and the light is winning.