Called to Light (Lent #4) - 4-03-11 - Beech Mennonite Church
Scriptures: John 9:1-7
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
I’m sure most of us here at one time or another have been afraid of the dark. Bob Woods
tells the story of a couple who took their son (age 11) and daughter (age 7) to Carlsbad
Caverns. When the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the
lights to dramatize how completely dark it is that far below the earth’s surface. The little
girl began to cry. Immediately the voice of her older brother was heard, “Don‟t cry.
Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights.”*
I’m wondering if any of you played “hide and seek” in the dark this week, as suggested in
our booklet? On Monday eve, I enjoyed keeping Abby and Andy Hartzler at my place. The
first thing Andy wanted to do was to play “bear hunt” in my basement. With a small
flashlight, we explored all the dark nooks and crannies. I could see in his eyes a unique
mixture of fear and excitement, but he didn’t get far from my side as we looked for bears!
During this Lent season we are asking the question: What does it mean to be fully
human, as God intended when He created us? We’ve seen thus far how God shapes us
by testing, by new birth, and by thirst. Today we will explore how God calls us out of
darkness to walk in his light. How he opens our eyes and heals us of our blindness.
Being human means that we have imperfect vision. Our eyesight is partial, superficial.
We may score 20-20 in both eyes at the optometrist’s office. But when it comes to
seeing things the way God does, we come up short. We all have our areas of blindness,
whether we admit it or not.
We saw that in our I Samuel 16 reading this week. Someone as godly as the priest
Samuel falls into the very human tendency to judge people by their outward appearance.
He is supposed to choose one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king. The first one, Eliab, is
tall and good-looking, and Samuel is sure he must be the one. But God points out
Samuel’s poor vision (and ours), “Humans look on the outward appearance, but God
looks on the heart.” Seven sons pass in front of him, but none of them is God’s pick.
Down to the youngest one who was out watching sheep.
In our John 9 story, new sight is given to a blind man. But his new vision stands in
stark contrast to the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. Because they don’t want to see
Jesus as the Messiah, their vision is distorted. Some of them try to deny that this was
the same man who was healed. Others can’t see past their legalistic rules; because
Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he can’t be from God. Our drama painted a good picture
of this vigorous debate, back and forth, between the blind man, his parents, and the
Pharisees. It gets hotter and hotter, until the Pharisees throw the healed man out of their
presence. Jesus, absent from all this drama, looks him up in order to reveal his identity.
“I am the one who healed you,” he says. And as the man worships Jesus, we hear these
words, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who have never seen may
see, and those who think they see will be exposed as blind.” The drama leaves us
hanging with the Pharisee’s response: “Surely we are not blind, are we?” A question
that may hit uncomfortably close to home for us.
The Bible has much to say about blindness (or darkness) versus light. The word
“light” itself is found 264 times, according to Strong’s Concordance. As I pondered
how to include some of these verse into this message, I began to see three cosmic acts in
this drama of light. Three events that sum up the biblical story of light.
Act 1 is the creation of light at the very beginning of time. All was darkness, for who
knows how long, until God spoke these words, “Let there be light.” And there was
light. And God saw that the light was good. As humans populated the earth, however,
often choosing to ignore God’s light and go their own way, things got darker and darker
on planet Earth. Prophets set the stage for Act 2 when they began talking about a new
light that was coming. Isaiah wrote, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Isa. 9:2)
We are now ready for Act 2, when Jesus comes as the light of the world. Dispelling
darkness. Healing blindness – both physical and spiritual. At the beginning of his
encounter with the blind man, we heard Jesus say, “While I am in the world, I am the
light of the world.” There’s just one problem – his life on earth is short – just 30 some
years and only 3½ years of actually ministry. What is going to happen when he leaves?
Will the world return to darkness once again?
Prepare for Act 3. Like runners in a relay race, Jesus passes his baton of light to his
followers. Near the beginning of his ministry, already, he starts preparing them for this
mission. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners, “You are the light of the
world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. So let your light shine before others in such a
way that they will see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:14-16)
I think we can agree that Act 3 in this drama of light gets underway officially on the Day
of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is given to those who are waiting, with tongues of fire
over their heads symbolic of God’s light shining on them. Notice, before we go
further, the interplay of the Trinity in these three Acts: God the Father as the source of
light, Jesus bringing God’s light to earth, and the Holy Spirit now in God’s people
maintaining the light of Jesus in the world. Here then is a good place for today’s Key
Thought: We are called to reflect the light of Jesus to a dark world. It is our
mission. It is our responsibility. It is our privilege.
As we explore this thought further, let’s focus on the word “reflect”. And let’s turn
to the passage that Andrew read: 2 Cor. 4. (p.1144 in the pew Bible.) We read in v. 1 –
“Therefore since through God‟s mercy we have this ministry….” Let’s stop and ask,
“What ministry?” We back up to the last verse of Ch. 3 – v. 18: “And we, who with
unveiled faces all reflect the Lord‟s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with
ever-increasing glory…” That is our ministry – to reflect the Lord’s glory…to let the
light of Jesus shine through our lives to others who are living in darkness. But before
we can reflect the light of Jesus, we must allow his Spirit to change us, to clean us up.
A dirty mirror, as you know, does not reflect light well. (show) This cleanup job begins
by facing the truth about ourselves and then moves on to action. As we go to Ch.4, v. 2
we see the need to “renounce any secret or shameful ways.” Takes me back to that bear
hunt with Andy. Only now I am now in Andy’s shoes, with the Holy Spirit, much
bigger and stronger, holding the flashlight in one hand and my hand in the other. His
voice gently but persistently says, “Let‟s start looking for bears in those dark corners of
your life.” And I feel a strange mixture of fear and excitement as God’s light begins to
expose the monsters I have been trying to deny or ignore. But once these wild animals
have been exposed, they lose their power over me.
Paul reminds us of our enemy in v. 4, saying, “the god of this age” has blinded the
minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light…” The prince of darkness tries
to blind our minds as well…distracting us, whispering lies, creating unfounded fears.
But we hear Paul say in v. 1, “we do not lose heart.” He bases his optimism on the
three Acts in our drama of light. Notice v. 6 – “For God, who said, „Let light shine out
of darkness’ (that’s Act 1) made his light (that’s Act 2 – the coming of Jesus) shine in
our hearts…” (That’s Act 3 – the Spirit shining Jesus’ light in and through us.) Paul is
confident that the power of God’s light, shining through us, will overcome all darkness.
We have in the Holy Spirit an inexhaustible source of light. We don’t have to work to
produce light. And we don’t have to worry about the batteries going dead. God’s light
is always available. All we have to do is reflect it.
In this week’s Eph 5 reading, Paul writes, “…you were once darkness, but now you
are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Have nothing to do with the fruitless
deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” I would remind us, however, that
exposing the darkness around us is not to be done in a judgmental and militant manner.
In a message in Aug of 2009, I quoted the well-known author Madeleine L’Engle. But I
want us to hear her words again, particularly in light of our present culture, a world that
is getting less and less civil, especially when it comes to religious discourse. In fact,
I’ve put her quote in the bulletin so we can take it home and look at it frequently. It
should be helpful to us during this year when our theme is “Come and See.”
We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, or by telling
them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so
lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
We close with two questions to ponder, and perhaps share with us during our sermon
response time: How has Jesus turned your darkness into light? How well are we
doing in this ministry of reflecting the light of Jesus to those around us?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to bring your light
to this Earth. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us your Spirit who shines your light into our
darkness. Thank you, Gentle Spirit, for showing us our blindness and helping us to
clean up our lives. Thank you, Triune God, for the privilege of reflecting your light to
those around us. Shine ever brighter in our lives, O God, so that your Kingdom may
come on earth. Amen.
*Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching – from Leadership Journal, Craig Larson, ed.