Seeking Light

Scriptures:     Isaiah 60:1-6,  Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-23    John 1:1-18

Our reading from John’s Gospel gives us a very different image of Jesus from what we’ve experienced in our Christmas Eve reading.  John’s Gospel has no birth narrative – Mary is mentioned at various points throughout the narrative, but Joseph is only mentioned twice in passing, as the town of Bethlehem is mentioned once in passing.  John’s gospel gives us no shepherds, no angels, no wise men, no King Herod hunting down the baby Jesus.  In John’s gospel, the first time we meet Jesus is as an adult, approaching John the Baptist to be baptized.  In today’s reading from John’s Gospel, which provides a preview of themes used throughout the rest of the Gospel, John gives us a series of metaphors to tell us what Jesus is like.  And the two primary metaphors John uses are “life” and “light”.  John said not only that in Jesus, life came into the world, but that everything in the world came into being through Jesus.  And John also tells us that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness – and that the darkness cannot overcome it.

I think this is a time of year when we’re especially drawn to light, which is why lights are used to celebrate not only Christmas but also Hanukah, the festival of lights.  We’ve past the winter solstice, and therefore the days are slowly growing longer – but the nights are still long and dark, and so we crave light.  Some struggle with seasonal affective disorder – seasonal depression – because of the lack of light.  It’s a physiological response.  And so we crave the light.

Remember that in the time of Jesus, there were no electric lights, no way in the night to light up an entire room  as we do today.   And without the ambient light of electric street lights and the lighting inside businesses, the darkness at night could be overwhelming, with the moon and stars as the only natural light available – and of course the moon’s light increased and decreased with the phases of the moon.  All you could do to provide more light was to light candles, to create a small circle of light around the candle which held back the darkness – and then you could see your surroundings, however dimly.  Those of you who were with us for Christmas Eve will remember when the sanctuary lights were turned off, and we saw each other and our surroundings by the light of the small candles we held.  So light is not only beautiful in its own right, but light is what enables us to see the beauty of our surroundings.  We see the light, but we also see everything else because of the light. 

I believe it is at least partly in this sense that the writer of John’s gospel speaks of Jesus as light.  As Christians we not only see Jesus, but see everything else as made visible through the light of Jesus.  How we believe affects how we experience our surroundings.  If our spiritual eyes are attuned to see the light of Christ, that light can bring illumination to life’s darkest corners.  On the other hand, if our spiritual eyes are only attuned to darkness, darkness is what we will experience.  And as Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel, “If the light within you is darkness, how great that darkness will be.”

John tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  Indeed, we know that darkness is not a thing in itself, but a condition caused by an absence of light – and so if we light a candle, the darkness by itself cannot overcome it; only if the candle goes out because of a gust of wind or because someone intentionally puts it out – and then the darkness returns.

It is light that helps us to see, and John names two things that we can see because of the presence of light – life, and grace.   We need light in order to live.  Without light one cannot live any kind of healthy life – think of someone imprisoned in a dark cell – and being imprisoned alone in a dark cell can break an inmate’s mental  health.  And without light, we cannot see the evidence of God’s grace that is all around us.

Our reading from Matthew’s gospel tells of two groups seeking the light that is Jesus – the Wise Men, or Magi, and Herod and his courtiers – but the two groups have very different reasons to seek Jesus.  The Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, and so they wanted to pay respect to the light and to encourage the light.  Herod and his supporters, by contrast, wanted to extinguish the light, because they preferred darkness – as John’s gospel says elsewhere, because their deeds were evil.  Or, to use the “life” metaphor of John’s gospel, the Wise Men were drawn to life, while the agenda of Herod and his supporters was death.  And it was only through God’s prevailing grace that Mary and Joseph escaped from Herod.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.”  We live in dark days.  Within the week of Christmas, there’s a feast day for the Holy Innocents, recalling Herod’s of children two years of age or under….and innocent children are still being slaughtered, at home and abroad.  And yet we have God’s promise that the light of Christ will prevail against the darkness.

Indeed, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is recorded as saying to the gathered crowd, “You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”  As Christians we are bearers of the light of Christ.  It’s not our own light that shines, but the light of Christ within us shining like light through a stained glass window.  This light can bring us hope and comfort during times of grief and sorrow.  When we’re feeling lost, the light of Christ can direct us, like a ship toward a lighthouse.  The light of Christ can also uncover those parts of our lives that still have not been surrendered to Christ.

The light of Christ can also change our society.  There’s a story connected with the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The pastor of the St. Nicholas Church in Berlin had in 1982 begun organizing weekly prayers for peace, held every Monday.  In the early days, they would get fewer than a dozen people – the communist government of East Germany strongly discouraged religion. As the weekly meetings progressed, more people came.  The pastor put up a sign “open to all”, and the church became a place of refuge for Christians and atheists alike, safe space for those gathered to discuss the wall.  As the gatherings at the church grew, the government became frightened, and East German leader Erich Honecker tried to shut down the meetings, even having people arrested.  And yet people kept coming.  On October 7, 1989, 8000 people gathered at the St. Nicholas Church, and over 70000 people gathered in the city, the others gathering at other churches.  After meeting to worship, they gathered into a candlelight procession, risking arrest and brutality from the police – but the police held back.  The candlelight marchers gave the police no reason to arrest them.  The following Monday, 120000 people marched, again holding candles.  Two days later, Erich Honecker resigned, and a month later, the Berlin Wall came down.  East German officials were later quoted as saying, “We were ready for anything, anything, except candles and prayer.”

“You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hid.”  May the light of Christ burn brightly here at Emanuel Church.  May this light brighten the dark and hidden corners of our lives, and may the light we bear be a blessing and a guide to our neighbors.  Amen.