The day boy and the night girl
Commentary
In 1882 George MacDonald wrote a fascinating story that powerfully illumines the thought behind today's lectionary passages. MacDonald called his tale "The Day Boy and the Night Girl: the Romance of Photogen and Nycteris" (it is available online at http://www.ccel.org/m/macdonald/daynight/daynight.html). In MacDonald's fable a witch steals a newborn girl and raises her in the total darkness of a cave. The witch experiences both light and darkness, but not the girl. She is completely immersed in the black world. Even as she grows, the witch will only allow her to step outside during the nighttime hours. Long before dawn's graying blush, Nycteris would be back inside her dark cave home. Although she may have been meant for light by birth, the witch's training kept her now in the dark. In fact, one night when she strayed unusually far, her running steps were driven by fear of pursuing light as she fled home near daybreak.
There was another young person in the same world. His name was Photogen, and he had been raised to experience only the bright light of day. His guardians ensured that he was never in the dark, not even to sleep. By the time the sun set, bright lights burned in the castle where he was raised.
Yet there came a day when Photogen hunted too far, and was caught beyond the point of no return when dusk filtered the skies and darkness crept on. In terror Photogen stumbled into a garden and hugged himself in distress. Fortunately this happened to be on a night and in the vicinity where Nycteris' nocturnal roaming brought them together. Nycteris comforted Photogen, and helped him understand the world of the night. Intrigued, Photogen began to plan forays that prevented his daylight return home, and Nycteris became his nighttime guide and friend.
Friendship grew into love, and eventually Photogen helped Nycteris endure the blazing sun of a day. In the end they were married, each appreciating the world of the other, yet both gravitating toward the day and the light. MacDonald's tale ends with Nycteris expressing confidence that ever-greater lights will lead them forward.
The parable is powerful. We are like Nycteris, stolen away from our original life in the glory and care of God by a witch we might call the devil. We are raised in the dark night of sin and evil on planet earth. But into this world comes Jesus, our Photo-gen. He grows to understand our nighttime existence, and loves us in it. Yet never does he become part of its darkness. Finally we are able to wed him, and share a brighter way of life, partly because of his love, and partly because of our originally created character that knows the world of light is truly our home.
Themes of darkness and light pervade today's passages. If the passion of MacDonald's love story can energize our preaching, our people will long for the light and understand what it means to escape the night.
Isaiah 9:1-4
Isaiah's metaphor of people wandering in darkness is haunting. It begins in 8:19-22 with a divine lament expressing consternation that God's people choose to look for meaning in all the wrong places. They seek wisdom from mediums. They assess direction from sorcerers. They look among the dead for answers to the questions of life. In this they have become zombies, animated corpses without souls. Where once the glory of God shone and gave illumination through Israel to the nations beyond, the light in the tower is now extinguished. The land of promise has become a graveyard where Eden's fruitfulness is replaced by vampire-like blood sucking. In their failure to live in covenant harmony with their God (8:11-18), Israel morphed into a nest of moral cannibals.
But hope nudges in with the turn of the chapter. Although divine displeasure caused the mist of darkness that seeped down through the hills of Galilee (9:1), it is also by divine decree that honor and hope will come. The reference to Zebulun and Naphtali back-pedals history to the time of Joshua and the initial distribution of Canaan among the tribes of Israel (Joshua 19:10-16, 32-39). This seems intended to evoke for the original readers/hearers of Isaiah's prophecy a reminder of the Sinai Covenant, with its blessings and curses (see Exodus 23:20-33 and Deuteronomy 27-28). Obviously, if the people have left the worship of the God of the covenant to seek direction elsewhere, the covenant stands in judgment against them, and the distress that closes chapter 8 is to be expected.
Yet, at the same time that Isaiah looks backward to Israel's early history and meaning, he also peers into its future. The term "Galilee of the Gentiles" anticipates a broader coming interaction between Israel and the nations, which will result in the spread of the glory of God. When this happens, the promises made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) will be fulfilled. In fact, the reason why God placed Israel in Canaan, rather than on many seemingly better real estate choices, appears to be that tiny Palestine was at the crossroads of international commerce in its day. The "way of the sea" in verse 1 is actually the technical term Via Maris. This was an international highway running from the nations of the Fertile Crescent (Assyria, Babylonia, Persia) and beyond (India, China) through Canaan and on to Egypt. In other words, God positioned Israel right on the major highway of the time in order to provide through it a witness to the other nations as to who God was and how life with God might unfold. In turning away from God, the light went out in Israel, and it also killed the streetlights for the nations traveling through.
Soon, however, light will return. Israel, currently losing its sense of self, will return to its place of honor (vv. 3-4). And when the nation is restored in its splendor, the glory of God will shine over it and through it (v. 2). Light will begin to dawn in the very near future, pushing back the night of evil and pagan worship and missed opportunities for witness.
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Paul was on his third mission journey (Acts 18:23-20:38) when he wrote this letter. It was part of a correspondence that included at least three more documents sent by Paul to the Corinthian congregation from Ephesus. He was involved in a long-term church development mission in Ephesus from 51-53 A.D. Earlier, Paul had written a letter chastising some members of the Corinthian church for their immoral behavior (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). Because of his harsh tone in that letter, some in Corinth appear to have challenged Paul's authority, and then resisted any attempt on his part to speak into their lives (1 Corinthians 4). After all, he was no longer living among them.
The divisions of the Corinthian congregation may have emerged at least in part out of this desire by some in Corinth to pick and choose among spiritual authorities. In the mission age of the early church it was easy to assert that certain leaders taught different ideas, since there was little written material to back up such claims and no immediate access to these teachers through instant communication. Even though Paul was the key figure in establishing the Corinthian church (see Acts 18), some were now claiming that other teachers (Apollos, Cephas/Peter, or Jesus himself) were their guiding lights (v. 12). The result was a splintered ministry that no longer housed the glory of God (3:16-17), and reduced the "power" of the gospel in its further reach (1:17). A few verses later (2:7-8) Paul uses the theme of God's glory and the mission of the church together, building upon the light and darkness motif of the Old Testament.
Paul undermines the fragmentation in the Corinthian congregation by reasserting the central teaching of Christ crucified (1:13, 17). This is not a minor message among the many teachings available from Christian leaders, but rather the key theme that all put forward (see ch. 3). Furthermore, he undermines his own prestige by pointing out that few in Corinth can even call him their spiritual father or claim some special esteem in the community by virtue of who might have officiated at their Christian initiation (v. 14). Paul does seem to have a special personal bond with Gaius, since in late 53 Paul would stay for three months in Gaius' home (Acts 20:2-3; Romans 16:23). But this does not allow Gaius to claim spiritual superiority. Similarly, Stephanas is recognized as a leader in the Corinthian congregation (16:17), but that does not arise from Paul's initial connection with the family (1:16).
Verse 18 is a transition verse, and belongs more to the explanations that Paul gives in verses 19-25. Nevertheless, it helps to set the tone for how Paul's words should be interpreted in these prior verses. In Paul's view, the world is "perishing" (v. 18). The term is not only linked to death, but to the darkness that envelops humans without access to the glory of God. Similarly, the idea of "the power of God" evident in salvation through Jesus, is always freighted with connotations of God's glory. For a further development of this see 2 Corinthians 3:7--4:17 and Ephesians 4:17--5:14.
Matthew 4:12-23
Matthew deliberately picks up Isaiah 9:1-2 in order to explain the ministry of Jesus (vv. 13-17). We are reminded by this that Matthew's audience is largely Jewish, and sees in Jesus the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Furthermore, Matthew connects Jesus directly to the "Day of the Lord" which was predicted by the prophets during the tense eras of Israel's demise under Assyria (2 Kings 17) and Judah's capture by Babylon (2 Kings 25). This "Day of the Lord" was initially a coming time of judgment on both Israel and the nations around (see Amos 5:18-27). Later it also gained elements of divine deliverance for a remnant of the faithful (see Isaiah 40) and the onset of the messianic age (see Joel 2). All of these converge for Matthew as Jesus appears on the scene.
For one thing, Jesus begins his ministry only after John has been removed from his public witness. Since Matthew clearly understands John's role as that of the final Old Testament prophet (see Matthew 3), his end and Jesus' coming signal the transition from the old age into the new, messianic age.
Furthermore, Matthew sees in Jesus the fulfillment of Isaiah's promise of a light to dawn in Israel that will become a daybreak of God's glory for the nations around. Matthew even traces the movement of Jesus from his hometown of Nazareth to the Galilean fishing village of Capernaum (v. 13) as initiating this process. After all, Nazareth lies on the edge of what was once the territory of Zebulun among the tribes of Israel, and Capernaum was found within Naphtali's former district. Also, Capernaum was a rest stop on the Via Maris, the highway to the sea, mentioned in verse 15. Because of Jesus' location and travels, Matthew identifies his movements as fulfillment of Isaiah's direct geographical map-painting. Similarly, Jesus' reiteration of Israel's role as light to the nations is now coming alive in the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
This is the way that Matthew also interprets Jesus' initial teaching. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (v. 17) is exactly the same message as that of John the Baptist (3:2). It is a message that carries with it all the imperatives that earlier prophets had included in their anticipation of the "Day of the Lord." Now, however, the urgency is heightened; John had said that the event so long anticipated (both with longing and with dread) would happen within his lifetime (3:11-15). Therefore, when Jesus picks up John's muted message, the "Day of the Lord" has arrived.
This is confirmed in the call of Jesus' first disciples (4:18-22). A mere command from Jesus ("Come, follow me!") is all that is necessary to get these four young men (possibly in their late teens or somewhere in their twenties) to leave the family businesses and join the glory march. Since this is the dawn of the New Age, there is no need to worry about daily toil or supplies (see Isaiah 35); God will provide. Furthermore, in these initial days of the divine invasion, it is important to gather as many people as possible into the spared remnant. Too soon, the blaze of judgment will annihilate the rest, so the most important work is that of international ingathering.
Verses 23-25 affirm this. Jesus walks along the Via Maris as it runs through Galilee, declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and healing the sick. Later Matthew will directly identify Jesus with the messianic servant foretold by Isaiah (Matthew 12:15-21); here he shapes the ministry of Jesus so that it exactly coincides with the announcement of messianic ministry found in Isaiah 61. Jesus is the "day boy" of George MacDonald who is entering the "night girl" world of first-century Palestine and bringing the dawn of the kingdom of God in great power.
Application
The power of dawn is astounding. A world that is segmented and individualized by its reliance on senses other than sight, a world that is robbed of depth perception and color, a world that is threatening because of its hidden weapons, is suddenly overthrown. Those with eyes to see it coming are forewarned by the graying eastern sky. But soon all are entranced by its pervasive presence. Daylight creates space, distributes color, organizes area, and allows for community. While night robs us of the use of some of our senses and buries us in the land of sleep, day calls us to rise in glory and return to life.
Isaiah's portrait of day dawning was a metaphor for the coming kingdom of God. One day, he predicted, the world that had grown dark and cold because the light of God's glory had been dimmed in Israel, would glow again with divine power. Interestingly, during the exact period of time that ancient Israel was losing its sense of self and its place of witness in Palestine, seven of the major religions of the world were beginning to emerge. In other words, exactly as the peoples of the ancient world set out in their wanderings to find a religious light that would penetrate the darkness of their perspectives and understandings, the light of God's glory went out in Israel. Only with the coming of Jesus would the light return (as Matthew says).
Furthermore, whenever the light of Jesus is dimmed in the church, its members fragment over secondary issues (as Paul declares), and its witness is diminished. The light goes out. The darkness overtakes things again.
Today is a great day to remind our people what it means to see the light of the world (Jesus), and to live in the light. MacDonald's story carries with it the power of moving from the world of darkness into the kingdom of light, hand in hand with the One who belongs to the day and the light.
Alternative Applications
1) Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23. The Isaiah and Matthew passages are easy to tie together. Matthew has already joined them in his direct quotation of Isaiah's prophecy.
What is more difficult is fitting the Corinthians passage into the same theme. It does fit, but only if the larger context of Paul's use of dark and light metaphors is taken into account.
It is certainly possible to focus on Paul's teachings to the Corinthian church on their own. A good approach would be to focus on one or more of the dimensions of fragmentation in our current politically charged ecclesiastical environment, and compare these to the splintering of the Corinthian congregation. Some possibilities include:
Denominational divisions that mute the church's witness (such as "Catholic" and "Protestant" at odds in Northern Ireland; theological judgments made by some groups over against different communions);
Tensions between churches dominated by different racial or ethnic groups;
Divisions within denominations over theological emphases that become labeled as "liberal," "progressive," "moderate," "conservative," "fundamentalist," or "reactionary";
Failure to work together for a community's good by neighboring congregations of different denominations;
The tragedy of "worship wars" that rip through congregations and cause bitterness to replace common joy and witness.
The Isaiah and Matthew passages could be used to show the effects of such divisions by comparing them to what happened in ancient Israel -- the lights went out in God's great Temple and the nations were left to wander in the darkness.
2) Matthew 4:12-23. The Matthew passage has the powerful story of Jesus' call of his first four disciples. Since we are still very early in this New Year, it might be possible to use Jesus' call and the response of the disciples to challenge people about their "New Year's resolutions." In a sense, the best of our New Year's resolutions are intended to help us follow Jesus more closely. How are we doing? Where do we hear the call of Jesus? Have we decided to follow Jesus, and are we keeping at it? How long do the New Dawn's resolutions last, and how will we ensure that they keep current in our lives? Where is Jesus saying today, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!"?
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 27 is the old story of someone being in the right place at the right time for the right purpose. It is not our doing, as though Jesus Christ were to be offered to us and we accept or reject him! It is God's free choice because we are lost, not he; because we are to be picked up and put on our feet again, not God. It would therefore be advisable as the theme for this Sunday to formulate something that would reflect the free choice of God. We cannot argue with him.
The psalmist delivers a song of trust and devotion. It would be most appropriate to preach about the unmerited grace which is given us. It is human to talk about others as our adversaries and foes. It is also human to equate our adversaries and foes with those of God. But we should take verse 4 much more seriously. We want to live in God's house all the days of our lives. When verse 5 says that we want to be kept "under the cover of his tent," this is again asking for shelter in the presence of God. It is only human that our joy is tainted with sounds of revenge, as in verse 6. It does not make sense to act artificially in a Christian-like manner. We are still the old human beings full of revenge and hatred and misunderstandings. It would be better to say this than to deceive ourselves and try to deceive him.
It is obvious that Psalm 27 talks much about fear, or being afraid. This does not mean anxiety in our usual sense, but it is based on the knowledge of our uncertainty of human existence. The only safe and beautiful place is in the presence of God. Our singing, composing psalms, "making melody before God" are all means by which we express belonging to him who is our head and toward whom we shall grow. It would be ridiculous and not biblical to assume that we are perfect at the moment we turn toward God. We must strive toward this perfection. Our faith is a growing thing and not static. There will be judgment. It is not somewhere in the nebulous, distant future, but here among us. Our belonging to God expresses itself in the absence of fear, the basic trust, and the joyful thanksgiving which we express in our tunes and in our words.
We would either take our sermon and its direction from the refrain or from the respective lessons. It is no longer Christmas, and so we have to talk about a grown-up faith, a mature attitude toward God which does away with childish things. At the same time, it is mandatory to point out that this is still within the larger Christmas season, because Epiphany belongs to the Christmas event. The Third Sunday After Epiphany would be a good occasion to preach about the Christmas season as an extended, all-encompassing time. We are so fixed on Christmas that we do not see all its implications that appear in the Sundays after the Epiphany.
Apparently, Psalm 27 was originally composed by a Levite who must have been a temple functionary. We should not forget that we are to administer the mysteries of the faith, but let us not make those items more mysterious than they already are. We are not here to obscure, but to clarify. The significance of this Sunday would be to show our people how God is always and everywhere clear light. We are subject to him, and not he to us. It is difficult not to insert a proprietary notion into our message, as if we are the ministers of truth. The truth has us, and not we the truth.
There was another young person in the same world. His name was Photogen, and he had been raised to experience only the bright light of day. His guardians ensured that he was never in the dark, not even to sleep. By the time the sun set, bright lights burned in the castle where he was raised.
Yet there came a day when Photogen hunted too far, and was caught beyond the point of no return when dusk filtered the skies and darkness crept on. In terror Photogen stumbled into a garden and hugged himself in distress. Fortunately this happened to be on a night and in the vicinity where Nycteris' nocturnal roaming brought them together. Nycteris comforted Photogen, and helped him understand the world of the night. Intrigued, Photogen began to plan forays that prevented his daylight return home, and Nycteris became his nighttime guide and friend.
Friendship grew into love, and eventually Photogen helped Nycteris endure the blazing sun of a day. In the end they were married, each appreciating the world of the other, yet both gravitating toward the day and the light. MacDonald's tale ends with Nycteris expressing confidence that ever-greater lights will lead them forward.
The parable is powerful. We are like Nycteris, stolen away from our original life in the glory and care of God by a witch we might call the devil. We are raised in the dark night of sin and evil on planet earth. But into this world comes Jesus, our Photo-gen. He grows to understand our nighttime existence, and loves us in it. Yet never does he become part of its darkness. Finally we are able to wed him, and share a brighter way of life, partly because of his love, and partly because of our originally created character that knows the world of light is truly our home.
Themes of darkness and light pervade today's passages. If the passion of MacDonald's love story can energize our preaching, our people will long for the light and understand what it means to escape the night.
Isaiah 9:1-4
Isaiah's metaphor of people wandering in darkness is haunting. It begins in 8:19-22 with a divine lament expressing consternation that God's people choose to look for meaning in all the wrong places. They seek wisdom from mediums. They assess direction from sorcerers. They look among the dead for answers to the questions of life. In this they have become zombies, animated corpses without souls. Where once the glory of God shone and gave illumination through Israel to the nations beyond, the light in the tower is now extinguished. The land of promise has become a graveyard where Eden's fruitfulness is replaced by vampire-like blood sucking. In their failure to live in covenant harmony with their God (8:11-18), Israel morphed into a nest of moral cannibals.
But hope nudges in with the turn of the chapter. Although divine displeasure caused the mist of darkness that seeped down through the hills of Galilee (9:1), it is also by divine decree that honor and hope will come. The reference to Zebulun and Naphtali back-pedals history to the time of Joshua and the initial distribution of Canaan among the tribes of Israel (Joshua 19:10-16, 32-39). This seems intended to evoke for the original readers/hearers of Isaiah's prophecy a reminder of the Sinai Covenant, with its blessings and curses (see Exodus 23:20-33 and Deuteronomy 27-28). Obviously, if the people have left the worship of the God of the covenant to seek direction elsewhere, the covenant stands in judgment against them, and the distress that closes chapter 8 is to be expected.
Yet, at the same time that Isaiah looks backward to Israel's early history and meaning, he also peers into its future. The term "Galilee of the Gentiles" anticipates a broader coming interaction between Israel and the nations, which will result in the spread of the glory of God. When this happens, the promises made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) will be fulfilled. In fact, the reason why God placed Israel in Canaan, rather than on many seemingly better real estate choices, appears to be that tiny Palestine was at the crossroads of international commerce in its day. The "way of the sea" in verse 1 is actually the technical term Via Maris. This was an international highway running from the nations of the Fertile Crescent (Assyria, Babylonia, Persia) and beyond (India, China) through Canaan and on to Egypt. In other words, God positioned Israel right on the major highway of the time in order to provide through it a witness to the other nations as to who God was and how life with God might unfold. In turning away from God, the light went out in Israel, and it also killed the streetlights for the nations traveling through.
Soon, however, light will return. Israel, currently losing its sense of self, will return to its place of honor (vv. 3-4). And when the nation is restored in its splendor, the glory of God will shine over it and through it (v. 2). Light will begin to dawn in the very near future, pushing back the night of evil and pagan worship and missed opportunities for witness.
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Paul was on his third mission journey (Acts 18:23-20:38) when he wrote this letter. It was part of a correspondence that included at least three more documents sent by Paul to the Corinthian congregation from Ephesus. He was involved in a long-term church development mission in Ephesus from 51-53 A.D. Earlier, Paul had written a letter chastising some members of the Corinthian church for their immoral behavior (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). Because of his harsh tone in that letter, some in Corinth appear to have challenged Paul's authority, and then resisted any attempt on his part to speak into their lives (1 Corinthians 4). After all, he was no longer living among them.
The divisions of the Corinthian congregation may have emerged at least in part out of this desire by some in Corinth to pick and choose among spiritual authorities. In the mission age of the early church it was easy to assert that certain leaders taught different ideas, since there was little written material to back up such claims and no immediate access to these teachers through instant communication. Even though Paul was the key figure in establishing the Corinthian church (see Acts 18), some were now claiming that other teachers (Apollos, Cephas/Peter, or Jesus himself) were their guiding lights (v. 12). The result was a splintered ministry that no longer housed the glory of God (3:16-17), and reduced the "power" of the gospel in its further reach (1:17). A few verses later (2:7-8) Paul uses the theme of God's glory and the mission of the church together, building upon the light and darkness motif of the Old Testament.
Paul undermines the fragmentation in the Corinthian congregation by reasserting the central teaching of Christ crucified (1:13, 17). This is not a minor message among the many teachings available from Christian leaders, but rather the key theme that all put forward (see ch. 3). Furthermore, he undermines his own prestige by pointing out that few in Corinth can even call him their spiritual father or claim some special esteem in the community by virtue of who might have officiated at their Christian initiation (v. 14). Paul does seem to have a special personal bond with Gaius, since in late 53 Paul would stay for three months in Gaius' home (Acts 20:2-3; Romans 16:23). But this does not allow Gaius to claim spiritual superiority. Similarly, Stephanas is recognized as a leader in the Corinthian congregation (16:17), but that does not arise from Paul's initial connection with the family (1:16).
Verse 18 is a transition verse, and belongs more to the explanations that Paul gives in verses 19-25. Nevertheless, it helps to set the tone for how Paul's words should be interpreted in these prior verses. In Paul's view, the world is "perishing" (v. 18). The term is not only linked to death, but to the darkness that envelops humans without access to the glory of God. Similarly, the idea of "the power of God" evident in salvation through Jesus, is always freighted with connotations of God's glory. For a further development of this see 2 Corinthians 3:7--4:17 and Ephesians 4:17--5:14.
Matthew 4:12-23
Matthew deliberately picks up Isaiah 9:1-2 in order to explain the ministry of Jesus (vv. 13-17). We are reminded by this that Matthew's audience is largely Jewish, and sees in Jesus the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Furthermore, Matthew connects Jesus directly to the "Day of the Lord" which was predicted by the prophets during the tense eras of Israel's demise under Assyria (2 Kings 17) and Judah's capture by Babylon (2 Kings 25). This "Day of the Lord" was initially a coming time of judgment on both Israel and the nations around (see Amos 5:18-27). Later it also gained elements of divine deliverance for a remnant of the faithful (see Isaiah 40) and the onset of the messianic age (see Joel 2). All of these converge for Matthew as Jesus appears on the scene.
For one thing, Jesus begins his ministry only after John has been removed from his public witness. Since Matthew clearly understands John's role as that of the final Old Testament prophet (see Matthew 3), his end and Jesus' coming signal the transition from the old age into the new, messianic age.
Furthermore, Matthew sees in Jesus the fulfillment of Isaiah's promise of a light to dawn in Israel that will become a daybreak of God's glory for the nations around. Matthew even traces the movement of Jesus from his hometown of Nazareth to the Galilean fishing village of Capernaum (v. 13) as initiating this process. After all, Nazareth lies on the edge of what was once the territory of Zebulun among the tribes of Israel, and Capernaum was found within Naphtali's former district. Also, Capernaum was a rest stop on the Via Maris, the highway to the sea, mentioned in verse 15. Because of Jesus' location and travels, Matthew identifies his movements as fulfillment of Isaiah's direct geographical map-painting. Similarly, Jesus' reiteration of Israel's role as light to the nations is now coming alive in the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
This is the way that Matthew also interprets Jesus' initial teaching. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (v. 17) is exactly the same message as that of John the Baptist (3:2). It is a message that carries with it all the imperatives that earlier prophets had included in their anticipation of the "Day of the Lord." Now, however, the urgency is heightened; John had said that the event so long anticipated (both with longing and with dread) would happen within his lifetime (3:11-15). Therefore, when Jesus picks up John's muted message, the "Day of the Lord" has arrived.
This is confirmed in the call of Jesus' first disciples (4:18-22). A mere command from Jesus ("Come, follow me!") is all that is necessary to get these four young men (possibly in their late teens or somewhere in their twenties) to leave the family businesses and join the glory march. Since this is the dawn of the New Age, there is no need to worry about daily toil or supplies (see Isaiah 35); God will provide. Furthermore, in these initial days of the divine invasion, it is important to gather as many people as possible into the spared remnant. Too soon, the blaze of judgment will annihilate the rest, so the most important work is that of international ingathering.
Verses 23-25 affirm this. Jesus walks along the Via Maris as it runs through Galilee, declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and healing the sick. Later Matthew will directly identify Jesus with the messianic servant foretold by Isaiah (Matthew 12:15-21); here he shapes the ministry of Jesus so that it exactly coincides with the announcement of messianic ministry found in Isaiah 61. Jesus is the "day boy" of George MacDonald who is entering the "night girl" world of first-century Palestine and bringing the dawn of the kingdom of God in great power.
Application
The power of dawn is astounding. A world that is segmented and individualized by its reliance on senses other than sight, a world that is robbed of depth perception and color, a world that is threatening because of its hidden weapons, is suddenly overthrown. Those with eyes to see it coming are forewarned by the graying eastern sky. But soon all are entranced by its pervasive presence. Daylight creates space, distributes color, organizes area, and allows for community. While night robs us of the use of some of our senses and buries us in the land of sleep, day calls us to rise in glory and return to life.
Isaiah's portrait of day dawning was a metaphor for the coming kingdom of God. One day, he predicted, the world that had grown dark and cold because the light of God's glory had been dimmed in Israel, would glow again with divine power. Interestingly, during the exact period of time that ancient Israel was losing its sense of self and its place of witness in Palestine, seven of the major religions of the world were beginning to emerge. In other words, exactly as the peoples of the ancient world set out in their wanderings to find a religious light that would penetrate the darkness of their perspectives and understandings, the light of God's glory went out in Israel. Only with the coming of Jesus would the light return (as Matthew says).
Furthermore, whenever the light of Jesus is dimmed in the church, its members fragment over secondary issues (as Paul declares), and its witness is diminished. The light goes out. The darkness overtakes things again.
Today is a great day to remind our people what it means to see the light of the world (Jesus), and to live in the light. MacDonald's story carries with it the power of moving from the world of darkness into the kingdom of light, hand in hand with the One who belongs to the day and the light.
Alternative Applications
1) Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23. The Isaiah and Matthew passages are easy to tie together. Matthew has already joined them in his direct quotation of Isaiah's prophecy.
What is more difficult is fitting the Corinthians passage into the same theme. It does fit, but only if the larger context of Paul's use of dark and light metaphors is taken into account.
It is certainly possible to focus on Paul's teachings to the Corinthian church on their own. A good approach would be to focus on one or more of the dimensions of fragmentation in our current politically charged ecclesiastical environment, and compare these to the splintering of the Corinthian congregation. Some possibilities include:
Denominational divisions that mute the church's witness (such as "Catholic" and "Protestant" at odds in Northern Ireland; theological judgments made by some groups over against different communions);
Tensions between churches dominated by different racial or ethnic groups;
Divisions within denominations over theological emphases that become labeled as "liberal," "progressive," "moderate," "conservative," "fundamentalist," or "reactionary";
Failure to work together for a community's good by neighboring congregations of different denominations;
The tragedy of "worship wars" that rip through congregations and cause bitterness to replace common joy and witness.
The Isaiah and Matthew passages could be used to show the effects of such divisions by comparing them to what happened in ancient Israel -- the lights went out in God's great Temple and the nations were left to wander in the darkness.
2) Matthew 4:12-23. The Matthew passage has the powerful story of Jesus' call of his first four disciples. Since we are still very early in this New Year, it might be possible to use Jesus' call and the response of the disciples to challenge people about their "New Year's resolutions." In a sense, the best of our New Year's resolutions are intended to help us follow Jesus more closely. How are we doing? Where do we hear the call of Jesus? Have we decided to follow Jesus, and are we keeping at it? How long do the New Dawn's resolutions last, and how will we ensure that they keep current in our lives? Where is Jesus saying today, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!"?
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 27 is the old story of someone being in the right place at the right time for the right purpose. It is not our doing, as though Jesus Christ were to be offered to us and we accept or reject him! It is God's free choice because we are lost, not he; because we are to be picked up and put on our feet again, not God. It would therefore be advisable as the theme for this Sunday to formulate something that would reflect the free choice of God. We cannot argue with him.
The psalmist delivers a song of trust and devotion. It would be most appropriate to preach about the unmerited grace which is given us. It is human to talk about others as our adversaries and foes. It is also human to equate our adversaries and foes with those of God. But we should take verse 4 much more seriously. We want to live in God's house all the days of our lives. When verse 5 says that we want to be kept "under the cover of his tent," this is again asking for shelter in the presence of God. It is only human that our joy is tainted with sounds of revenge, as in verse 6. It does not make sense to act artificially in a Christian-like manner. We are still the old human beings full of revenge and hatred and misunderstandings. It would be better to say this than to deceive ourselves and try to deceive him.
It is obvious that Psalm 27 talks much about fear, or being afraid. This does not mean anxiety in our usual sense, but it is based on the knowledge of our uncertainty of human existence. The only safe and beautiful place is in the presence of God. Our singing, composing psalms, "making melody before God" are all means by which we express belonging to him who is our head and toward whom we shall grow. It would be ridiculous and not biblical to assume that we are perfect at the moment we turn toward God. We must strive toward this perfection. Our faith is a growing thing and not static. There will be judgment. It is not somewhere in the nebulous, distant future, but here among us. Our belonging to God expresses itself in the absence of fear, the basic trust, and the joyful thanksgiving which we express in our tunes and in our words.
We would either take our sermon and its direction from the refrain or from the respective lessons. It is no longer Christmas, and so we have to talk about a grown-up faith, a mature attitude toward God which does away with childish things. At the same time, it is mandatory to point out that this is still within the larger Christmas season, because Epiphany belongs to the Christmas event. The Third Sunday After Epiphany would be a good occasion to preach about the Christmas season as an extended, all-encompassing time. We are so fixed on Christmas that we do not see all its implications that appear in the Sundays after the Epiphany.
Apparently, Psalm 27 was originally composed by a Levite who must have been a temple functionary. We should not forget that we are to administer the mysteries of the faith, but let us not make those items more mysterious than they already are. We are not here to obscure, but to clarify. The significance of this Sunday would be to show our people how God is always and everywhere clear light. We are subject to him, and not he to us. It is difficult not to insert a proprietary notion into our message, as if we are the ministers of truth. The truth has us, and not we the truth.
