Light
By Brother Luke
Sermon 171 Dec 8, 2019 Lk 8: 16-25; Gal 1: 3-10; Ezk 33: 30-33
What happens if
you are in your house at night and during a storm the power goes off? Unless
you happen to have a flashlight in your pocket, you will carefully negotiate
your way through the dark to that drawer or closet where you have stored a
flashlight and then use that to throw some light into your home’s inner
darkness. I experience this frequently when I go into our small church at
night. Even though I am very familiar with the layout of that small space, with
all the icon stands, chairs, tables, flower vases, music stands, and carpets,
in the dark, walking can be treacherous. Seeing the full reality of that space
requires light.
This is the
image Jesus is describing in today’s gospel lesson. Indeed, all three vignettes
share the same message. How do we see reality? Through the light of the gospel,
the message of Jesus Christ. Of course, we may not want to see reality or we
may prefer to view reality from a perspective that is different than the one
Jesus offers us. The light Jesus is talking about is the same light as when he
declares: “I am the light of the world.” It is about knowledge and
understanding. Perceiving more deeply our reality, unobscured by the darkness
that so often shrouds our world. So if we really want to see what is going on
in the world around us, the light that we need to put on the lamp stand is the
message of Jesus Christ. The first example in today’s gospel lesson takes that
message and puts it in a very obvious everyday physical place, putting a lamp
on a stand so that it can shine throughout the dwelling. Now we can see the
light and with that light we can see the chair, the table and all the other
furnishings surrounding and impinging on us and begin to negotiate that space
more safely. But that very domestic image is pointing to something bigger than
a dwelling. Its about a light to live buy. A light to carry into the world. The
gospel passage continues in order to clarify what living by that light means.
The incident
with his mother and brothers and sisters takes us in that direction. This is
Jesus countering a very powerful human tendency that was prevalent in his time,
and still is a part of contemporary societies in many ways today: Looking at
reality from the perspective of family and clan associations. Jesus’ message is
to supersede that perspective. In his day the family and clan were first
priority in peoples’ lives. Everything needed to be measured in terms of family
and clan. Who you are and how you interact with others and society was always
filtered through the perspective of the family. But in Jesus’ world view family
was no longer a blood relationship issue but rather the adherence to his
teachings which all come from his father, that is, God. If you hear what he has
to say and carry it out, you become part of his family. His family becomes the
human family, as we once used to say the “family of man.” We are no longer
divided between sinners and saints, between clan and foreigner, between rich and
poor or any other division. We are one and our oneness is defined by Jesus. We
need to throw this light on those things that divide us so that we can see what
really unites us.
So what about
the storm and the sinking boat? When we begin to lose sight of the gospel
message and sink into the usual cares and anxieties of our personal world,
faith disappears and fear takes over. When that happens we no longer see a
connection between what we are facing and the message of Jesus. We may feel
that he is absent from us and our world. And yet, how far away is Jesus from
us? He is not far away at all. In fact, he is in the boat with us! We may not
notice him there because we are so wrapped up in our immediate concerns, but he
is there. Our darkness has overshadowed his light. But we can turn to the light
and bring a new perspective on our scary world.
As he said: “I am with you always, until the end of time.” [Mt 28:20] It
is that assurance that we need to carry in our hearts.
