First Sunday after Epiphany

Epiphany Sermon

January 2 & 6, 2008

Text:  Isaiah 60:1

 

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."  Is. 60:1

 

Light is very important, whether its physical or spiritual.  Light was already created on the first day, God knew how signifi­cant light would be.  We cannot live without it.  No one wants to be in the dark.  We prefer to be enlightened.

 

In our day, it is very necessary to be enlightened--or at least act like it.   It will get you places open doors, influence friends.  I have even made a New Year's resolution to be a little more enlightened than I have been in the past, I'm going to make an effort to be politically correct.  One of the areas I'm presently working on is not yelling at people driving slow in the inside lane anymore--I'm going to say they are "automotively challenged."

 

Years  ago there was a period called "The Enlightenment."  People had done things better, improved their lives.  One of the philos­ophers of that day called his era "the best of all possible worlds."(Leibniz)   Many others hailed this new Age of Reason as the greatest epoch the world had ever known.  People were saying that even though things weren't finished, and no could be com­pletely enlightened, they were certainly in the process of get­ting closer.  Life was becoming clear in the age of Enlighten­ment.  Victory was just a matter of time. 

 

Human reason would triumph.  Darkness and evil would be gone. When Newton uncovered the laws of gravity, Alexander Pope wrote:

"Nature and nature's laws lay hid in sight,

God said, 'Let Newton be!' and all was light!"

 

But this was not utopia--revolution followed.  People were not getting more enlightened.  The light was temporary, and faded.  But what was really sad, as I view history, is that the people failed to see the light (so to speak) and instead sought new sources of illumination.  It's all too human this side of Genesis 3.  Every 24 hour period it’s the same...the sun rises and we have light, then the sun sets and we're back in the dark.  We get busy for a while and make hay while it shines, but night always fol­lows.  What can we get done in the dark when we can't see?

 

In the physical world, we never take "no" for an answer.   Right?  So we seek to turn night into day.  "GE brings good things to life" we say.  New York is called “the city that never sleeps.”  I believe that, I’ve been watching the TV show “Cash Cab”.  Intellectually and spiritually, we also try to turn off the dark.  On his death­bed, the German philosopher Goethe said, "More light."  (Actually he said, "Macht doch das zweiten Fensterladen auch auf, damit mehr Licht hereinkomme.")  Beyond flinging open the shutters--we don't want the darkness to crowd in ever, closing in, especially at life's end as light fades.

 

Where do we find the answer?  Where do we go for light in our life?   Oddly, ironically, true light comes shining through when all seems dark.  Truth appears, not beneath a blinding sun, but in the midnight skies with barely a glimmer.   To be precise, three skies catch our attention for the moment.

 

First, centuries ago, God took Abram out under the night sky and told him a promise:  new land, descendants as numerous as stars in the sky, and good news that through him and his offspring all nations would be blessed.  In the dark, Abram saw the light.  Stars hung above as a sign.  He believed and it was counted to him as righteousness.

 

Secondly, centuries later, the offspring of Abraham were held captive in foreign darkness.  And though the night sky looked different in Babylon, the stars remained; God was not through fulfilling the earlier promise.  And if Abram's descendants wanted to hear more, they could listen to the prophet Isaiah: Ť"Arise, shine, your light has come."  The Messiah and deliverance still were God's plan.  He would not let darkness triumph.  Light for their spiritual life is theirs.  God's glory shines in deliv­erance.   They may not yet see the fulfillment, in their return and in the Messiah, but like light from the stars, it is already, in fact, on the way...for God has spoken it.

 

On to yet the third look generations later, where in another nighttime sky the stars shone and the light appeared, this time in a special star was seen in the East.  Whether the Wise Men knew it or not, the promise made to Abram had been fulfilled--that all nations now were blessed, that the glory of the Lord had broken forth.   Light shone forth in life.  Where is this glory?  Where God's love is shown, where sinners are saved.  It was all in a child.  Were it not for God's grace, and for the faith He gives, no one--no one--would have seen that light.

 

And what  about us?  "Wise men still seek Him" some say.   True enough.  But seek Him where?  In the stars?  You won't find it in the blazing lights of the city, though some try.  Flashing neon all around begs "look here"  "look at me!"  Pollution in many areas doesn't even allow a good look at the stars.   Even the artificial lights of Christmas are just that, artificial.  It's not a coincidence that Satan is called Lucifer, "bearer of light."

 

But God leaves nothing to chance.  We are not off on our own.  He makes sure we see His light by inviting us to look in the right place.  Not up in the sky, not where we might think to look,  but where He directs.  So a spotlight falls not on a throne room but on the manger where the infant Redeemer is laid.  And then our attention  is drawn to the focal point of Christ's coming:  the cross.   In the midst of Good Friday's midday darkness we  see death,  but God sends forth spiritual light.  Who would think a cross could shine like this?

And the light that beams from the tomb on Easter confirms it all.  And to make sure that we know this is ours, so we do not lose our focus,  He  puts  things right in our path, blocks our view of worldly  things,  and we see His love...in Baptism, the  word  of forgiveness  declared, the word fixed to bread  and  wine--Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.  Here is God's glory risen to shine on us in salvation.  Here is the light from above; light to end the darkness.  The Light of the world for all eternity!

 

But some still sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.   Some still have not heard the word or listened to the promise.   That is why evangelism efforts and mission work are still going on today.   In our town, in our state and to the ends of the earth.

 

Today we are installing new officers in our congregation.  On the basis of what we have just read, we shouldn’t even need one of those officers.  If we all got it, if the light has dawned on us and in us, we ought be shouting this good news from the rooftops, on the street corners and everywhere.  We wouldn’t need an evangelism chairperson or an evangelism committee.  We’d be telling everyone and the place would be packed with people wanting to know what we know about Jesus.

 

We are starting the first adult information class of 2008 (on Sunday) tonight.  It is for those who want to know more about this Savior we come to worship each week.  It is for anyone who desires to get  as much of Him as they can.  Maybe you know someone who would like to know more.  Maybe you would like to know more.

 

The philosopher was right!  This is the best of all possible worlds!   We have seen the light to lighten the Gentiles, the glory of God's people!  The Good News still is shining forth here and across the globe.  The Epiphany Light has risen...and we need to tell our dark world.  Let the light of Christ shine forth in you daily, and richly!

 

Amen