Sermon: Isaiah 60:1-6, John 1:1-18 The Light Shines

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon: Isaiah 60:1-6, John 1:1-18 The Light Shines
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
January 4, 2009

Today is the eleventh day of Christmas. Christmas is a season of twelve days beginning on December 25 when we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here in the United States we like to get the jump on Christmas by starting the celebrations before it comes. Then Christmas arrives and suddenly the celebrations are over. We then forget about Christ for a week and focus our attention on New Years Eve Parties, parades and Bowl games. We do have a dim recollection of our previous celebrations of Christmas in a curious song called the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” But for much of the world Christmas just starts on December 25th and continues for twelve days to the great feast of Epiphany on January 6. So with “eleven pipers piping” echoing our ears let us continue our celebration of Christmas and prepare for the great feast of Epiphany.

Will pray with me? Lord Jesus Christ we celebrate your birth on Christmas and the coming of God’s glory through you on the Feast of Epiphany. We believe that you are God because though you God’s glory shines to the world. Bring us from darkness into the light of God’s glory. Amen.

John 1:1-18 NRS John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

When the Jews arrived back in Jerusalem after their Babylonian captivity they saw a terrible sight. Their once beautiful city was in ruins. What amounted to government was horribly corrupt. The beautiful temple of God erected by Solomon had been burned to the ground. The preacher who wrote the last few chapters of Isaiah assembled his people and gave them a message of hope that the glory of God would one day return to Jerusalem. One day the paying of tribute to the Assyrians, the Babylonians and now the Persian would end and other countries would bring gifts to Mount Zion. One day their children would return from being dispersed all over the world. This was a vision of great hope for a generation that had walked in darkness for so long. This hope was that one day the light of the glory of God would pierce though the darkness. One day …

We all know darkness. It is a familiar friend. It is where we hide from are fears. Recently a man who lived on the streets here in Eagle Rock died. For several years Mark had walked in darkness. After his son died a few years age the light of Mark’s life seemed to be extinguished and Mark lived in the shadows of homelessness and alcoholism overwhelmed by the darkness until one day when too many pills and too much vodka finally put Mark’s darkness to an end. What can we say to people who have lost all hope of living in the light and are consumed by the darkness?

The opening of John gives hope to all who walk in the darkness. This hope is in the form of a gift that empowers us to be children of God. This gift comes from God and is transmitted to those living in darkness by John the Baptist and others who witnessed Jesus Christ. What they saw and what gives us great hope is the light of the Glory of God that pierces through the darkness of our lives. And the source of this light is Jesus, from whom emanates the glory of God because Jesus is God.

Whenever we are in a dark room our pupils dilate. So when the light comes on we have trouble seeing. Gradually our seeing improves and we are given the choice either to believe what we see or not. This is what happens when Christ comes into our lives. At first our eyes have to adjust to the light. Gradually we see Jesus clearly and begin to realize that we are seeing God. We realize that this is the light of God’s glory coming out of Jesus and bringing us out of our darkness into new light. Once we see clearly that it is in Jesus Christ that glory of God fills our lives we are given a choice to believe that Jesus is God or not.

If we choose not to believe that Jesus is God then we return to the darkness of Jesus’ death on the cross. But if we make the other choice, if we choose to believe that Jesus is God then Jesus’ death becomes for us not a return to darkness, but rebirth in the glorious light of God. The choice to believe that Jesus is God is a leap of faith. To make that leap we have to trust that what Jesus says is true; that God chose to live on this planet as a human being. So that’s the choice we have. To hold back and stay in the darkness of unbelief, or take a bold step into the light and believe that Jesus and God are one.

If we step into the light and truly believe then we are empowered by God for great things. We become God’s own children, able, like John to point to the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Accepting the light means the responsibility of sharing the light, reflecting the light to others who still walk in darkness. This is our mission as Christians to be people of the light who shine the light of Christ wherever darkness remains. This is the purpose of evangelism, to bring people from darkness to the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. So when you talk to your friends and neighbors about your faith tell them your story of coming from darkness to light though your belief in Jesus Christ.

There is a church just down the street in the old Eagle Rock YMCA. It is called Victory Outreach. For 35 years this church has gone into the streets of North East LA to find people in darkness. They go to the most dangerous places to meet the most hardened gang members. The message they bring is light of God in Jesus Christ. To gang members living in darkness the light of Christ is offered as a choice. And for those who make the choice to accept the light and believe in Jesus Christ the darkness is pushed out and they experience rebirth as the children of God. Most of the members of Victory Outreach are former gang member who were once in darkness but though the work of faithful Christians have experienced that transforming effects of being in the light.

And that is what this church is doing. People who have been living in the darkness of poverty, homelessness and despair are coming into the light of Jesus Christ. Their eyes are slowly adjusting to brightness of the light. And many of them are beginning to believe that what they see is true, that the light this church points them to is none other than the glory of God. And our hope is that the people of Eagle Rock will embrace the light and choose to believe that what they see in Jesus is glory of God manifest on earth.

In a few moments we will gather around this table and eat this bread and drink from this cup. These are signs of the light that is coming into your lives. As you eat the bread and drink from the cup our eyes will need time to adjust to the light but eventually we will see the glory of God in body and blood of Jesus Christ. If you choose not to believe this you will return to your chairs in darkness and the light you have glimpsed will fade. But if you choose to believe that the glory of God is present in the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus then you will remain in the light and beginning today you will be empowered as the children of God.

Lord Jesus we asked that the glory of God be in this sacrament today. Help us to see you as God in the bread and the wine. Bring us into the light of God’s glory. And empower us as God’s children. Amen.