Sitting in Darkness and Seeing Light

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Epiphany 3 – 22 January 2017

Text: Matthew 4:12-23

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Complete these sentences:

·      After all this time, I can finally see the ____ at the end of the tunnel.

·      Then God said, “Let there be ____!”

·      Jesus said, “You are the ____ of the world.”

·      The people who sat in darkness have seen a great ____...

Hopefully, you can see the common theme of light running through these quotes.

A couple of nights ago, Steve and I watched the first episode of a new mini series on PBS called “Victoria” – all about the young Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne at age 18. Pretty early on, the woman who’s in charge of the new queen’s household decides to outfit the palace with the newest technology: gas lighting.

The addition of gas lighting to the palace brings less mess from melted wax candles, and, of course, improved sight, especially once night has fallen. But, the palace staff soon discovers that the improved lighting has a couple of shortfalls, too. First off, when they open up the walls to install the gas pipes, the rats in the walls, exposed to the light, begin to scatter throughout the palace. Then, there is the danger of burning oneself while lighting the gas lamps, as one of the housemaids discovers.

So, light can be a blessing and a curse – it helps us to see things that we cannot see without it, and yet it also makes us see things we’d maybe prefer to stay covered by the darkness.

Today’s gospel lesson drops us into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He hears the news of John the Baptist’s arrest, and Matthew tells us that Jesus moves to Capernaum, to make that his “home base.” And then Matthew pulls in a quote from the prophet Isaiah: “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.”

We are accustomed to hearing that Isaiah quote at Christmas time, as an obvious reference to the birth of Christ. Used here, Matthew is writing about a people who are living under the heel of an oppressive and cruel regime - the Jewish people, suppressed by the power of Rome. Jesus as the Messiah – the promised anointed one – is coming to his people as a light in the darkness, as one who will offer hope to those living in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Matthew then tells us that Jesus begins to proclaim: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus is calling people to turn around from the darkness and to live lives that are full of God’s marvelous light. The kingdom of the world may be dark and oppressive, but Jesus says that the kingdom of God has drawn near.

And just what is the kingdom of God like? The Advent hymn, “Prepare the Royal Highway” describes it this way:

His is no earthly kingdom, it comes from heav’n above.

His rule is peace and freedom and justice, truth, and love.

And this may sound wonderful and like something we all should want, right? Then - we begin to realize that the kingdom of God is not what we’re used to living in at all – and so God’s rule of peace and freedom and justice, truth, and love requires the repentance that Jesus is asking for –it definitely requires some things will change.

Light shining in the dark places means that we see more clearly the oppression in our own lives – wherever that may be. Is there inward oppression: Are we oppressed by sadness? Or depression? Or illness?

Or is there outward oppression: Are we oppressed by racism? Or sexism? Or by any other of society’s ills? Once we begin to see oppression in our own lives, we then can see the oppression in others’ lives, and in the world: Where are the poor ones? The ones who are hungry? Where are the lost, and the lonely?

Then we begin to ask the deeper questions: Why are they poor? (Not “Why do I think they’re poor?” but “Why are they poor?”) Why are they living in darkness and in the shadow of death? What must change so that light shines ever brighter into their darkness?

The answers won’t likely come from kingdoms or from governments – although they might. The answers will come from people in the world who are, as Jesus calls us, “the light of the world.” You…are the light of the world.

Jesus has come to be our great light - to shine light into every dark place – so that we may find joy in that light, so that we may see clearly and live in truth, and so that we may bear light to all the world. You…are the light of the world.

Amen.

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