THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

This sermon was preached on Christmas, at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 12/25/16.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned…  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.”  (Isaiah 9:2, 6)

If I can be transparent for a few minutes this morning, I must confess that Christmas for me this year is rather bittersweet.  I’m certain that I’m not alone in experiencing a sense of joy coupled with pain, sunshine and rain, light and darkness. 
Christmas, for me has always been time of sheer joy, a time when even as an adult, the inner child in me has been awakened - and hope, and joy, and love and the promise of peace on earth is renewed and animated for me.

            I know I’m not alone.  This year is unlike any other.  The time from last Christmas to this one seems like an eternity, and has been wrought with difficulty.  We have seen our share of disappointment, despair, disillusionment, discouragement, dimness, and dismal distress. 

We are living through one of the most difficult political seasons in our nation’s history – people are deeply divided along race, class, inter-religious and even intra-religious lines.  This is to say that Christians can’t even agree on what it means to be a Christian.
         Murder continues to plague many of our cities like Baltimore where over 310 persons will have lost their lives by the end of this year.  Too many people are living out in the streets, too many people are hungry and too many people remain without adequate healthcare.  Around the world, there are wars and rumors of wars – and it seems like there’s another terrorist attack somewhere in the world every time we turn on the news.
        So Christmas for me – and I sense for many of us – is more bittersweet this year than ever.  And yet, we as people who walk by faith live marked by a promise that in every season of darkness there will come forth light. 

This was the word of hope of the Prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel.  The people were living in darkness.  They found themselves in exile and living in the face of political unrest and religious persecution.  They had been removed from their land, and their religion had been taken from them.  Iin significant ways - their sense of being has been taken from them.  And Isaiah stops by to drop a word of promise and hope on the people of Israel. 

The word of promise and hope that Isiah had for the people of Israel was that despite what they were going through at the moment, despite the darkness that they were experiencing, “for unto us a child is born, unto us a savior is given.” 

Notice that Isaiah is speaking some 700 years before the actual birth of Christ, and yet Isaiah declares in prophetic terms – the present tense - “for unto us a child IS born – not will be born, not might be born, not is going to be born – but a child is born.

So, if Isaiah was here to talk to us to us today, what might he might tell us?  Isaiah might tell us that with all that we’re going though right now – whatever it might be for you – God’s promises WILL come to pass in due season.  It might take 700 years, but God will show up and show out in your life.  God might not come when you what God to come, but God will show up on time.

Isaiah, might further remind us that we are not the first people to find ourselves having to live through darkness, and that God brought some other folk out of darkness –

·         God met the Israelites at the Red Sea and delivered them from 430 years of  slavery -

·         God met the Israelites again 40 years later at the Jordan River and set them down in the promised land - 

·         God met Daniel in a lion’s den and God met three Hebrew Boys in a fiery furnace.

God specializes in bringing God’s people out of darkness.   And what God has done for others, God will do for us.

And Isaiah might remind us that his prophecy was a precursor to a reminder uttered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. about 50 years ago, that “darkness can’t drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate can’t drive our hate, only love can do that.”

And the good news is that Jesus came into the world, and in John 8:12 reminds us about who he was (and is) when he said that “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

Can I tell somebody about the light of the world?

Jesus was, and is, and will be the light of the world.  And Jesus did not stop there.  He went on to say at another point in Matthew 5:14 that “(as I am the light of the world, “You are the light of the world.””

And the good news does not stop there, for Peter reminded the church a few years later that “You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into the MARVELOUS LIGHT.”

I’m glad to tell you that however you came on this Christmas Sunday morning… wherever you came from… whatever’s under the Christmas tree or not… whatever will be on the dinner table this evening or not… whatever lights you turn on or not – Jesus is (and will be) the light of the world.

Whatever comes tomorrow or next year, or not… ups and downs, rights and wrongs, lefts and rights, sadness and joy… whatever comes – Jesus is (and will be) the light of the world.

I don’t know how long ‘twill be,

Or what the future holds for me

But this I know

If Jesus leads us

We’ll get home some day -

That’s why – whatever comes –

I’m DETERMINED to walk in the light

Beautiful light

Gone come where the dew drop of mercy shine bright

Shine all around us by day and by night
Jesus, the LIGHT of the world…