Sermon: John 1:1-18 The Light Shines

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon: John 1:1-18 The Light Shines
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
December 29, 2019

Today is the fifth 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 a jump on Christmas by starting the celebrations before it comes, usually right after Thanksgiving.  Then Christmas arrives and suddenly the celebrations are over.  We then forget about Christ for a week and focus our attention on New Year's Eve Parties, parades, and Bowl games. 

For much of the world, Christmas starts on December 25th and continues for twelve days to the great feast of Epiphany on January 6.  We do have a dim recollection of our previous celebrations of Christmas in a curious song called the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”  According to this song you should have received from your true love this morning, five golden rings.  Will you pray with me? 

Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate your birth on Christmas. 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.  In your glorious name, we pray.  Amen.

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 the government was horribly corrupt.  The beautiful temple of God erected by Solomon had been burned to the ground.  They were living in darkness. 
And so God sent a prophet to give them hope.  He showed them the glory of God. And here is what he said.

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.

5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
7 All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.

According to the prophet, one day the paying of tribute to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians will end and other countries will bring gifts to Mount Zion.  One day their children will return from being dispersed all over the world.  One day God will return to his temple.  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 through the darkness. 

We all know darkness.  It is a familiar friend.  It is where we hide from our fears.  It is where depression lives.  Alcoholism and addiction thrive there.  Let me tell you a true story.

I once knew a man who lived on the streets in Eagle Rock, California.  He and his wife sat on a wall in front of our apartment building.   I talked with them every day when I walked to my church.  For several years Mark had walked in darkness.  After his son died a few years before the light of Mark’s life seemed to be extinguished. Mark lived in the shadows of homelessness and alcoholism overwhelmed by the darkness. Then, one day, too many pills and too much vodka finally put Mark’s darkness to an end.  He died.  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 the Gospel 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 tell people living in darkness about Jesus Christ.  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.  Listen to these beautiful words of hope.

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.

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 a 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 here 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 taking on 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 your neighbors and your family about your faith tell them your story of coming from darkness to light through your belief in Jesus Christ.

There is a church that meets in an old YMCA in Los Angeles.  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 the 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 members who, were once in darkness but though the work of faithful Christians, have experienced the transforming effects of being in the light of Christ.

And that is what the church should be doing.  People who have been living in the darkness of poverty, homelessness, and despair need to come into the light of Jesus Christ.  Their eyes will slowly adjust to the brightness of the light.  And many will begin 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 South Jersey will embrace the light and choose to believe that what they see in Jesus is the glory of God manifest on earth.

When Mark, the homeless man I talked with every day, died his wife came to see me.   She wanted to know if I would do a funeral for him.   She had no money and no family.   And she hoped that the church would do this for her.  I told her that I would be honored to do her husband’s funeral.

Grace and I had started a Sunday evening worship service at that church.   Many of the homeless men and women in that community came on Sundays for a warm meal.   They also came to worship God with us.   So I announced to this group that I would be doing Mark’s funeral.   Mark had been extremely well known in the homeless community so word of his death and funeral at my church spread rapidly.   At the funeral, our sanctuary was packed with people, mostly homeless, who had known Mark.  And after the funeral more and more homeless people came to my church searching for the light of Christ.   The homeless worship service and meal that my wife and I started twelve years ago is still going strong, bringing the light of Christ to people living in darkness.

This morning, the first Sunday of Christmas, we have come into the light.   Some of us have been in darkness for so long that we may have trouble seeing in the light.   But eventually, our eyes will adjust and we will see an amazing sight.   We will see the glory of God coming as our Lord Jesus Christ.   Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for coming at Christmas.   We thank you for shining the glory of God into the darkness of our lives.   As our eyes adjust to living in the light help us to believe that you are God and the glory we see from you is the glory of God.   In your glorious name we pray.  Amen.