Arise, Shine; For Your Light Has Come
Sermon
We
generally have a family outing to the cinema over the Christmas period. There
is always a big, blockbuster family movie offered with plenty of pre-Christmas
hype to draw the crowds, and it's usually a good evening out. We watched all
the Lord of the Rings films in successive years and have now embarked upon the
Narnia series.
Although these films are not advertised as Christian films, they all have a Christian theme, however heavily disguised that theme might be. In one way or another, they all have the powers of light fighting and defeating the powers of darkness, with plenty of nail-biting excitement along the way and plenty of mythical creatures to lead us into another world.
The theme of darkness versus light is very apparent over the Christmas period, beginning in Advent and erupting into the glory of Christmas after four weeks of comparative darkness. But the theme is also central both to the Old Testament and especially to Christianity. In the birth of Jesus, St Paul and the gospel writers saw the fruition of Old Testament yearnings and prophecies. And in the coming of the Magi at the first Epiphany, Christian scholars see the fulfillment of the words of Third Isaiah in chapter 60 of the book of Isaiah.
Chapters 55-66 of Isaiah are thought to have been written by Third Isaiah or by a group of disciples, after the people had returned from exile. It was a difficult time since there was rejoicing tinged with despair. The despair came because over the generations in exile, the people had forgotten their origins and the God who had led them out of Egypt into the Promised Land, and had begun to worship the foreign gods associated with the culture of Babylon. So although the people were home again, back in the Promised Land, there was still plenty of darkness.
Isaiah foresees a golden era when not only the Jewish race but all nations and peoples will know God and will share in God's plan of salvation for human beings. Isaiah acknowledges the darkness, but promises that Jerusalem will be full of the light of God's presence and will therefore attract many nations and Kings.
Isaiah says: "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
This could well be taken as referring to the crucifixion, but the following paragraph is more specific. There Isaiah speaks of the wealth of nations coming via travellers on camels and bringing with them gifts of gold and frankincense as they proclaim the praise of the Lord.
In today's world the word "epiphany" means a revelatory manifestation of a divine being, or a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something, or a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization. For the Magi, all those meanings were true when they visited the infant Jesus soon after he was born. It was true too for the shepherds when they visited the babe in the manger and it was also true for Joseph when he was warned in a dream to take his little family and flee from Bethlehem.
Life has its dark times for all of us and for some people those dark times occur at Christmas and so are revisited each year. But God's presence within those dark times can be the epiphany which sees us through. As he hung dying on the cross, Jesus himself was unaware of God's presence. But when he glimpsed the glory of God, the whole world exploded into the glorious light of his resurrection.
"Lift up your eyes and look around," says Isaiah, "then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice."
Because of the baby born at Christmas 2000 or so years ago, we now know Isaiah's words to be true. Jesus Christ finally defeated the powers of darkness by removing life's worst fear, the fear of death. Jesus rose from death into glorious light and promised the same for all of us. But it's more than that. We also know that there is light in all our darknesses and that life's frequent "little deaths" such as divorce, or serious illness, or redundancy, or debt or any of the other disasters that life showers upon us will also result in the glorious light of resurrection.
God is always present in our darkness and we can experience epiphanies of our own if we only open our eyes and look around. Then we too shall see and be radiant and our hearts shall thrill and rejoice. And when that happens, darkness holds no fear because we are secure in God's immense love for us. No film can express the wonder and excitement of that experience and it is so powerful that when other people witness it, then perhaps, all people shall come to the light of Christianity, and kings to the brightness of its dawn.
Although these films are not advertised as Christian films, they all have a Christian theme, however heavily disguised that theme might be. In one way or another, they all have the powers of light fighting and defeating the powers of darkness, with plenty of nail-biting excitement along the way and plenty of mythical creatures to lead us into another world.
The theme of darkness versus light is very apparent over the Christmas period, beginning in Advent and erupting into the glory of Christmas after four weeks of comparative darkness. But the theme is also central both to the Old Testament and especially to Christianity. In the birth of Jesus, St Paul and the gospel writers saw the fruition of Old Testament yearnings and prophecies. And in the coming of the Magi at the first Epiphany, Christian scholars see the fulfillment of the words of Third Isaiah in chapter 60 of the book of Isaiah.
Chapters 55-66 of Isaiah are thought to have been written by Third Isaiah or by a group of disciples, after the people had returned from exile. It was a difficult time since there was rejoicing tinged with despair. The despair came because over the generations in exile, the people had forgotten their origins and the God who had led them out of Egypt into the Promised Land, and had begun to worship the foreign gods associated with the culture of Babylon. So although the people were home again, back in the Promised Land, there was still plenty of darkness.
Isaiah foresees a golden era when not only the Jewish race but all nations and peoples will know God and will share in God's plan of salvation for human beings. Isaiah acknowledges the darkness, but promises that Jerusalem will be full of the light of God's presence and will therefore attract many nations and Kings.
Isaiah says: "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
This could well be taken as referring to the crucifixion, but the following paragraph is more specific. There Isaiah speaks of the wealth of nations coming via travellers on camels and bringing with them gifts of gold and frankincense as they proclaim the praise of the Lord.
In today's world the word "epiphany" means a revelatory manifestation of a divine being, or a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something, or a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization. For the Magi, all those meanings were true when they visited the infant Jesus soon after he was born. It was true too for the shepherds when they visited the babe in the manger and it was also true for Joseph when he was warned in a dream to take his little family and flee from Bethlehem.
Life has its dark times for all of us and for some people those dark times occur at Christmas and so are revisited each year. But God's presence within those dark times can be the epiphany which sees us through. As he hung dying on the cross, Jesus himself was unaware of God's presence. But when he glimpsed the glory of God, the whole world exploded into the glorious light of his resurrection.
"Lift up your eyes and look around," says Isaiah, "then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice."
Because of the baby born at Christmas 2000 or so years ago, we now know Isaiah's words to be true. Jesus Christ finally defeated the powers of darkness by removing life's worst fear, the fear of death. Jesus rose from death into glorious light and promised the same for all of us. But it's more than that. We also know that there is light in all our darknesses and that life's frequent "little deaths" such as divorce, or serious illness, or redundancy, or debt or any of the other disasters that life showers upon us will also result in the glorious light of resurrection.
God is always present in our darkness and we can experience epiphanies of our own if we only open our eyes and look around. Then we too shall see and be radiant and our hearts shall thrill and rejoice. And when that happens, darkness holds no fear because we are secure in God's immense love for us. No film can express the wonder and excitement of that experience and it is so powerful that when other people witness it, then perhaps, all people shall come to the light of Christianity, and kings to the brightness of its dawn.
